The New Girl's Secret
by Mate-4-Life
Summary: These Are Also Chat Rooms On YouTube, And Will Eventually Lead To If You Want To Continue Reading You'll Have To Go To YouTube. But Feel Free To Comment Here Still.
1. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 1

*At Hogwarts*

(Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's second year. ALL of them turned up normally *No flying car*)

Ron stared at the doors to the great hall.

'Calm down Ronald, Ginny will be fine.' Hermione said for the fifteenth time. 'She's really excited'

'Yeah! I know!' He said shaking his head 'When she's excited she always does something stupid'

'She's not you' Harry joked. Hermione laughed and Ron gave an evil look at the giant doors.

'I would give you these evils but the doors are more interesting' he said jokingly. 'I'm just worried that she'll do something she'll regret'

'Like what?' Harry asked, 'What could she possibly do?'

'Ronald's scared she'll be chosen for Slytherin Harry' Hermione said, 'But that really wouldn't be too bad. It could be worse'

'WORSE?' Ron shouted spinning back to Hermione 'What could be worse?' then he realised the door wasn't being watched and turned back around.

'Oh come on Ron. If she's going to be in Slytherin she won't change, she'd be picked for it as she ALREADY fitted it.'

'She could make friends with the wrong kind of people' Ron said evilly glancing sideways at the Slytherin table

'You sound like Malfoy' Hermione said

'He means Malfoy' Harry informed, Hermione rolled her eyes in a that-was-a-bit-obvious way.

'Look, Ron, She hates Malfoy like we do' Hermione told him putting her hand on his shoulder in an attempt to make him turn around but he never, he kept staring at the door

'She's never met Malfoy' Ron said spitefully as she removed her hand again.

'She met him in Diagon Alley, twice!' Harry replied incredulously

'Oh yeah.' Ron said realising 'hang on… twice? When was the second time?'

'The time with you was the second time' Harry replied yet again. 'The first time was with Hermione'

'We were in Madam Malkin's robe shop getting me some new robes.' Hermione said, and then in a whisper to Harry 'I felt terrible, Ginny loved the robes in there but she needed to get second hand stuff. I brought her the hat she liked when Mrs Weasley wasn't watching, but then Ginny felt bad' Hermione pulled an unhappy and guilty face.

'What did you do?' Harry asked slightly louder since Ron was no longer listening.

'I told her it'd count as her birthday present' Hermione said with a small sideward smile.

'In Diagon Alley she wouldn't get just how bad Malfoy could be' Ron complained

'He called me a mudblood and Ginny got so worked up at him, but I just told her everything about him. Didn't take too long' Hermione said

'What did you tell her?' Ron asked

'That he's a foul loathsome evil little cockroach who thinks he's better than everyone else just because his father is a governor of the school and that he was convicted as a death eater and got away with it because of money even though it's pretty obvious he was one.' She said matter-of-factly

'Sounds about right' Ron and Harry chorused.

'I don't know if she actually knew it was Malfoy though, just some random jerk'

Then there was a loud creak and bang. The giant golden doors opened slowly and Ron sprang to life. He was practically standing up trying to get a good view of Ginny. And he sprang around to face the front of the hall as they passed. The first years were mostly tiny except one girl who was almost as tall as Harry, she was wearing the normal school uniform but it looked odd because she had chosen a huge jumper that fell to just above her knees and almost entirely covered up the skirt that must have existed underneath, she wore the blackest tights that the group had ever seen and tiny black shoes. She looked very out of place, and she seemed to be aware of it as her face was red.

She along with the rest of the year group lined up along the teachers table facing the rest of the school, Ron put his thumb up to Ginny who looked ready to run.

'Ginny really has nothing to worry about' Hermione said. 'Even her uniform doesn't look out of place next to that girl.' Hermione whispered to Harry again and she stared at the girl who he also was watching. Ron shushed them both even though he didn't hear what they had said and watched as McGonagall placed the sorting hat on the small three-legged stool. All the first years looked pale and ill, they all stared at the hat fearfully. Its brim ripped open and started to sing its new song:

'_Hogwarts was founded a thousand years ago,_

_By the greatest four sorcerers,_

_With so much to show._

_They united in a school_

_And harmonious they would be_

_Apart from Slytherin,_

_Who made them all need me._

_For they encountered disagreement,_

_Of what the school should hold,_

_Of who should dwell here_

_Of whom the school should mould._

_Dear Gryffindor he wanted the determined and the brave at heart,_

_For then Hogwarts' good legacy would soon start._

_Hufflepuff the loyal, wanted you to be the same,_

_For only then would Hogwarts remain._

_While Ravenclaw thought hard, and what did she bring?_

_She thought it was a school so should_

_Allow the hard-working in._

_But Slytherin decided, none of these would do_

_The pure of heart and cunning shall remain in school the whole way through._

_So they decided to ask me,_

_And enchant me with what they know_

_So I can now choose, into which you house you'll go.'_

Ron was now leaning almost completely over Hermione's empty plate, urging the sorting to begin. However Dumbledore stood up

'He doesn't usually make a speech now, does he?' Harry said

'Not usually so it's probably important, pay attention' Nearly-Headless Nick said scornfully.

'As many of you would have realised' Dumbledore began 'there are not only first years in the line up this year'

'Oooh' Hermione whispered to Harry avoiding Nearly-Headless Nick's gaze 'that's why she looks so out of place she's not a first year'

'Doesn't explain the clothes' Harry whispered back jokingly

'There is one second year in the line too, I hope those of you who are second year will welcome her into your lessons and help her with the work.' Dumbledore continued, the girl in the line was bright red now but her eyes sparked with pride as if to say she never needed any help 'let the sorting begin.'

McGonagall stepped forward and unrolled a scroll, suddenly Ron cheered and quietened up quickly as McGonagall, Ginny and Hermione all glared at him.

'When I read out your name, please come to the sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head' McGonagall said to the first years and the second year girl 'Aberworthy, Kenneth.' A small boy jumped and shuffled over to the hat and its stool. There was absolute silence for a moment until

'HUFFLEPUFF!' the hat shouts echoed through the hall.

'Well at least we can hear it back here' said Harry cringing from the loudness 'was it always so loud?'

Another girl called Kelly Ashcroft had sat on the stool now, Harry put his hands over his ears slightly 'RAVENCLAW!' cried the hat.

'Bennett, Patricia' McGonagall said softly. A small blonde girl walked over to the hat, mumbling something to herself.

'HUFFLEPUFF!'

'Doesn't seem like it's in much of a Gryffindor mood, does it?' Harry joked.

'Harry!' Hermione said 'it doesn't matter what moo-'

'Don't blame me Ron cheered that it had shut up'

'Cara, Amy' a girl walked over to the hat and sat down gracefully, as the hat was lifted onto her head it almost looked nice on her straight hair, she was clearly the sort of girl who would look good in anything. But then the hat flopped over her eyes.

'SLYTHERIN!' it screamed


	2. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 2

'**Citrus, Patrick'**

'**GRYFFINDOR!'**

'**You were saying Harry?' Neville said from behind Harry.**

'**I was only joking' Harry said over his shoulder.**

'**Clarke, Nicola' a particularly short girl nodded goodbye to the girl she was talking quietly to and walked to the hat, smiling slightly at probably whatever was just whispered by the other girl.**

'**HUFFLEPUFF!'**

'**Davies, Stephanie' McGonagall read. The tiny girl that had been whispering to Nicola and looked like she was going to burst into laughter any moment practically ran to the hat.**

'**SLYTHERIN!'**

**She burst into a fit of laughter as she sat down.**

'**What's so funny?' Hermione wondered out loud**

'**Dennett, Jonathon' a tall ginger boy walked to the hat and put it over his head**

'**RAVENCLAW!' the boy threw off the hat and sprang off the stool, then he done a little dance as he walked over to the tables. Neville, Seamus, Dean and Harry all burst into a quiet fit of laughter.**

'**Eton, Melinda' a small dark haired girl walked to the hat, her messy, curly ponytail fell over her shoulder as the hat covered her eyes, there was a short pause**

'**GRYFFINDOR!'**

**The list went on, and on, and on. The majority seemed to be placed in Ravenclaw this year.**

'**Taylor, Kaylei' McGonagall read from the sheet watching the young girl leave the now much shorter line. She sat down and had the hat placed on her head like the others, she looked shaky and it gave her a slightly blurred outline.**

'**SLYTHERIN!' called the hat**

'**Weasley, Ginevra' Ginny cringed at the use of her full name and walked tall towards the hat at first grinning but close to the end she tripped slightly and lost her smile. She sat down on the stool and seemed in a hurry to pull the hat over her head, she gripped the hem as if hoping to pull the hat over her entire body and to hide away in it. Only her pink nose down and her flame red hair shone out from under the hat. Ron was visibly tense he stared, unblinkingly at Ginny's small form and waited for the hat to call out. This seemed to take longer than the others for Harry, Hermione and Ron as neither Harry nor Hermione dared to say anything in case Ron murdered them.**

'**GRYFFINDOR!' the hat screamed**

'**That was fast!' Dean exclaimed**

'**Fast?' Ron said 'that took an eternity!'**

'**Oh Ron, shut up!' Ginny said as she took a seat nearby**

'**Did you even hear what I said?' Ron said curiously.**

'**No.' she said 'The hat told me to tell you' Ron looked offended but he was much more light-hearted after Ginny's housing.**

'**Webster, Jenny' McGonagall called, as the line thinned, a young girl stepped forward and sat on the polished stool, a second passed as everyone settled down, the trio watched**

'**SLYTHERIN!' the hat yelled. A couple more children were housed, until the only person left at the front was the new second year who walked forward without being called as soon as the little boy before her had joint the Ravenclaw table. McGonagall just nodded at her to sit down and she placed the hat upon the girl's head.**

'**So what was her name? She didn't get read out' Hermione asked**

'**Dumbledore probably said it when we were talking earlier' Harry replied,**

'**That'll teach you the lesson then' Nearly-Headless Nick said scornfully to him.**

'**No, he didn't say it earlier' Ron said**

'**Maybe it won't teach me a lesson then' Harry replied just as scornfully back at Nearly-Headless Nick**

'**Well I never!' Nick said, shocked and drifted down the table to join a group of third years including the Weasley twins.**

'**Well he's going to get a lot more cheek down there' Ron said 'What's with that girl's clothes?' he added looking at the second-year girl still on the stool.**

'**Harry you shouldn't have been so rude!' Hermione scolded, ignoring Ron. Harry ignored her and watched the girl still sat on the stool.**

'**This is getting boring' Seamus said, a few seats away, moments later**

'**Yeah it's taking forever' Dean agreed.**

'**Maybe the hat just wants to build the tension' Ginny suggested sitting in front of Ron and staring at the girl on the stool, 'She must be getting so worried up there'**

'**She looks like she's shrunk into that jumper' Lavender laughed from a few seats behind Ron.**

'**Oh I hope she can't hear people laughing' Ginny whispered, Hermione nodded in agreement looking worried.**

'**I just want to know who she is' Harry said.**

'**Yeah it's not normal for them not to read out the name' Hermione said**

'**You've only been here a year Hermione' Ron said stupidly**

'**I read, Ronald' Hermione replied**

'**Like you need to remind me' Ron answered rolling his eyes. It wasn't long until everyone seemed to be in a conversation and had forgotten about the girl at the front except from Hermione and Ginny.**

'**GRYFFINDOR!' The hat screamed, Almost everyone in the hall seemed to jump at the hat's interruption in their conversations. Even the atmosphere in the hall seemed to jump as thousands of hearts leapt.**

'**Serves them right' said Ginny to Hermione who laughed. The girl had climbed off the stool and was now approaching the Gryffindor table; she saw Hermione and Ginny laughing at the end and took it as if they were laughing at her. However she sat at the very end of the table anyway and squashed herself as far away from anyone as possible. Hermione and Ginny realised they had been staring at her and they both broke into simultaneous smiles.**

'**Hi' Ginny said. The girl never replied.**

'**What's your name?' Hermione asked 'we missed it, sorry'**

'**They never said it' she said quietly and turned away to watch Dumbledore's speech.**

**Ginny and Hermione exchanged confused looks before doing the same.**

**We will start with Dumbledore's Speech (after eating):**

'**Welcome to Hogwarts and to all the old students welcome back! I would like to start by introducing my new peers. Our new defence the dark arts teacher this year is Professor Lupin, and as Professor Filphius has moved on from Hogwarts the post of Care of magical creatures will be taken by our very own Rubeus Hagrid, he will however also remain our Grounds Keeper. To all of you who do not know, or who have to be reminded' Dumbledore looked over at Fred and George who cheered, Ginny giggled into her sleeves. 'The forbidden forest is strictly forbidden to all students. And I must add that Doctor Filibuster's wet-start dry fireworks are banned from indoor areas now including common rooms and if found they will be confiscated. For the other banned items please see the list in Mr Filch's office.**

**Also this year I have the pleasure of announcing that many teachers have volunteered to run extra classes for subjects that are usually only available for the third years and above. These classes will be open to the all year groups which will hopefully help the younger years with lesson choices in your third year and give you all a boost in your studies. After two years constant attendance you may have the option to take an O.W.L examination in the subject which will mean extra qualifications for those of you who would like to get a head start in your working lives. Lists of lessons open for these sessions will soon be pinned up on the notice boards in the common rooms.**

**Now I am sure I can safely say that many of us, like me, are very tired. So off to bed. Toodlepip!'**

**Suddenly the hall erupted with sound, Ginny ran off to the prefects of Gryffindor to be shown the way to the Gryffindor common room and to find out the password. While Hermione followed Ron and Harry out of the hall,**

'Well we all know what Hermione's going to be doing every lunch break until the end of the year.' Ron said looking at her behind them


	3. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 3

'**You two should really come too' She began 'It would help so much for next year!'**

'**Yeah right Hermione as if we'd come, we have too much homework to catch up on at the last minute'**

'**Then do it at night, Ronald!' Hermione scolded.**

'**Oh Hermione, what's the likelihood that we'd do any work anyway?' Harry asked. 'I'd much prefer to play Quidditch'**

'**Of course you would Harry! You always want to play quidditch.' Hermione replied scornfully 'You'd still have time to anyway'**

'**Not as much' he murmured back.**

'**Well you play far too much anyway!' she said 'you really, really ought to.'**

'**I do not play too much!' Harry argued back 'anyway you'll probably force us to do every lesson there is either way'**

'**Don't be silly, I wouldn't force you to do any' she replied**

'**Great! No need to go to any then!' Ron said happily**

'**But! I do think you _should_ go… at least to the ones you want to do next year.' Hermione said**

'**We don't know what we want to do next year yet' Ron began**

'**Honestly Ronald, that's what these are for! To help you choose! Just try out a few at a time if you must!'**

'**By any chance are you going to all of them anyway Hermione?' Harry asked sourly**

'**Yes, actually Harry. I will and I'm not going to be the only one, you'll see!'**

'**Name one person in our year group that will go to all of them.' Ron challenged her.**

'**Quite a few Hufflepuffs probably will' Hermione stated.**

'**Other than them' Ron challenged again**

'**The new girl might' Hermione said 'she doesn't seem to have any friends yet. She sat alone through the whole feast and never spoke to anyone.'**

'**Well maybe we should talk to her first then' Ron suggested**

'**Ginny and I tried' Hermione said looking at them meaningfully. 'She wouldn't tell me her name and she wouldn't even say hello back to Ginny'**

'**Do you think she knows where she's sleeping?' Ron asked.**

'**Hmm… I never thought of that.' Hermione said thoughtfully 'I expect she went with the first-years.'**

'**I bet she didn't' Harry said, Hermione and Ron looked at him. He nodded indicating in front of them. The new girl was standing at the turning in the corridor looking worried.**

'**Hi' Harry said as they approached her. She looked around the three of them and her eyes thinned as she looked at Hermione. She nodded in greeting. 'You're in Gryffindor, right?' Harry asked.**

'**Kinda' she said.**

'**Kinda?' Ron said 'How can you only kinda be a Gryffindor?'**

'**Well I can't find the Gryffindor tower so I guess I'm more a corridor person' she said spitefully**

'**Come with us' Harry offered. 'We'll take you'**

**She paused for a moment but saw no other choice. 'Okay' she said quietly, but she made a point about not walking with Hermione or Ron.**

'**Umm….' Harry said searching for a conversation between the four of them 'what's your name?' he asked**

'**I don't have one' she said sarcastically, Harry fell silent for a few minutes again.**

'**Where've you come from?' he asked**

'**Nowhere important' she said**

'**Are you going to take any of those extra lessons?' Harry asked.**

'**Yeah, most likely.'**

**Harry shot a glance at Hermione.**

'**I'm Harry by the way.' he informed.**

'**I know, Harry Potter' she said.**

'**Oh right.' he replied**

'**You really expected me not to know you? I am a pureblood' Hermione and Ron shot a look at each other.**

'**Are you one of those people who value family over personality?' Ron asked scornfully stopping in his tracks with Hermione.**

'**Not really' she said slowly, 'there's a terrible idea behind it, but I've never found a mudblood that's better than any purebloods before'**

'**Don't use that word!' the trio chorused.**

'**Sorry' she said**

'**Well I don't know where you've been but in Hogwarts it doesn't matter if you're family are magical or not, you can't tell in this school. It only matters to the Slytherins' Harry informed her.**

'**okay.' she stated simply**

'**Umm… These are my friends by the way' Harry told her.**

'**Oh that wasn't obvious at all' she said sarcastically**

'**Yeah well, this is Ron Weasley, he's Ginny's brother. That's the girl who said hi to you earlier and that's Hermione Granger' none of them made any sign of greeting to one another. 'Okay then' Harry said. He paused 'well I can tell you'll all be brilliant friends' he continued sarcastically.**

**After that they all stayed silent until they reached the portrait of the fat lady.**

'**Um… devil's snare' Harry said,**

'**Welcome to Hogwarts young lady' the fat lady addressed the new girl as the portrait swung open. They all stepped through the portrait hole.**

'**Uhh, which is my room?' the new girl asked 'I'm supposed to share with the second year girls.'**

'**Last door on your right up the right staircase' Hermione said quickly. The new girl walked away. 'Thanks Hermione goodnight, no problem weirdo goodnight' Hermione murmured to herself. The trio stared at each other and as soon as they were sure the new girl was out of earshot they started talking**

'**What is with her?' Ron asked**

'**All that blood doesn't matter stuff' Hermione said angrily 'she might as well have said purebloods are best'**

'**You'll show her how wrong she is by the time 2 days pass Hermione.' Ron reassured her.**

'**Why was she ignoring you?' Harry asked Hermione**

'**I'm not sure, I think it's because me and Ginny were staring at her when she sat down.'**

'**Why were you staring at her? Ron asked.**

'**I didn't mean to but she was glaring at us, when we realised we were staring we smiled and tried talking to her, she just wouldn't reply properly' Hermione said**

'**Yeah what's with the "no name" stuff? What are we supposed to call her?' Ron asked.**

'**No name?' Harry suggested.**

'**Well you're free to sound like an idiot if you want to Harry' Ron said 'she talked to you at least'**

'**Yeah' Hermione agreed 'she probably only done that because you're famous.'**

'**Look guys, I'm tired' Harry said, 'I'm just going to go to bed, goodnight.'**

'**Goodnight' they chorused.**

**Harry went up the boys' staircase to bed leaving Hermione and Ron in the common room.**

'**I'm going to stay down here for a while' Hermione told Ron 'Hopefully the new girl will be asleep by the time I go upstairs.'**

'**I don't blame you' Ron said 'I'll stay with you'**

'**Thanks Ron' Hermione said with a timid smile. They both sat on the sofa near the fire.**

'**It's great to be back in Hogwarts, isn't it?' Hermione asked looking around at the walls and at the dark grounds through the window with the small flecks of light which were Hagrid's cabin.**

'**Yeah' Ron said 'I'm glad Ginny's a Gryffindor, I've been worrying for weeks.'**

'**Why?' Hermione asked**

'**She'd be mixing with the wrong sort of people' he replied, 'we've said this already'**

'**I mean why have you been worried that she would be a Slytherin?'**

'**well ever since she got her letter she's been getting more and more worked up about it, she becomes quite evil when we try to calm her down, and I'm pretty certain she's practised being cunning to lie about homework and stuff, and sneaking around with the twins. That's never a good sign. Then she's been shouting and moody as if she's over us.'**

'**Aw, Ron she's just growing up' Hermione reassured him 'she'll be back to normal some time soon, when she's calmed down from the shock of Hogwarts'**

'**I don't want her to grow up though' Ron said sadly 'she's my little sister'**

'**Sorry Ron you have no choice but to let it happen.' Hermione said looking into his eyes. She lay down across the sofa with her legs resting over Ron's.**

'**I hope that new girl settles in some time soon, maybe then she'll tell us her name' Ron said thoughtfully.**

'**I don't really care' Hermione said, 'as long as she stays out of my way' they both paused.**


	4. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 4

'What's it like where you live Hermione?' Ron asked.

'Why?' She asked curiously

'Just wondered' he replied.

'Well there's not much to tell.' she answered 'I live in a three bedroom house. My parents are in the front bedroom which overlooks the road and the rest of the street but I have the back room which over looks the garden, with a small stream at the end.

I love my bedroom, in the Autumn as the sun comes up it passes through the big tree in the next field after my garden and lights my whole room red and at twilight it goes a rich blue, I can spend all night sitting by my window watching the countryside change. I keep the window slightly open usually and I get a nice slow, cool wind coming in except in the winter when the window's usually closed. But now I sit there and think about Hogwarts, or sit there and read my books, or sit there and miss you and Harry. What's it like at the burrow?'

'Well, we're a little off of a small village, but we're generally surrounded by fields and a pasture where we play quidditch. We haven't got time to sit around and think about Hogwarts no matter how much we want to, we always have to be de-gnoming the garden, cleaning out the shed, cleaning our brooms and the shed their kept in, helping with cleaning full stop, helping with dinner, setting the table, showers and bed. It's not like Percy ever helps being prefect and the twins are always blowing things up and having to tidy their room.

My bedroom is right underneath the ghoul in the attic so there are always crashes in the night, I'm kind of used to them now so I don't wake up to barely anything. The amount of days that Ginny and the twins have snuck into my room and tipped freezing water over my bed to wake me up so I have to change my bed sheets in the mornings too. Mum has no idea what they do when they're asked to go wake me up and when I'm up it's wash, change, breakfast, chores, about half an hour before lunch, lunch, more chores, dinner and about an hour to wash and get changed before bed. I mean I love living there but it's not exactly relaxing even though we have two parents and Percy who can perform magic in the house. Even Harry helped out when he was over this summer. I thought about running away so many times when I was younger but I'm used to working all the time now' He stopped talking and looked down at Hermione's shoes. They stayed quiet for a minute or two.

'I'm going to go to bed' Hermione said slowly, 'Goodnight, Ron'

'Okay, Goodnight Hermione' Ron moved his arms away from her legs, and she stood up so Ron copied. Then they went up their separate staircases.

Hermione went into her dormitory, she looked towards where her bed usually was. The new girl was asleep in her bed. Hermione was so annoyed, she looked at the trunks at the end of the bed, the house elves had changed her into another bed. She walked in front of the beds and changed beside her new bed then finally she climbed in and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning Hermione woke up smiling, she had the perfect idea. It took her a moment to realise where she was, she looked around the dormitory there were all the other Gryffindor girls, Lavender, Parvati and the new girl. For once she preferred Lavender and Parvati to someone. Quickly she climbed out of bed and changed. It was 6:30; all the others would still be asleep. She snuck out of the room, went down to the next door and looked in without knocking; everyone was asleep, brilliant. She snuck out again and went to the bathroom; she got a mug from the side and filled it up with freezing cold water. Then she went back to the girl's room slightly downstairs she quickly found Ginny's bed and she poured the water all over Ginny's head, and as Hermione had expected Ginny woke up with an ear piercing scream. Everyone in the dormitory woke up and Hermione began laughing so hard that she was practically rolling on the floor.

'HERMIONE!' Ginny shouted as she saw her, 'what on earth was that for?' Hermione laughed more and strengthened her knees which were buckling, then as Ginny jumped out of bed, Hermione ran out of the door, Ginny watched her run and ran after her; Hermione swung open the door and suddenly fell down out of view with a squeaky scream.

'Where'd she go?' Ginny said to the other girls in the room, she walked slowly to the door and looked down the stairs, but the stairs was no longer there.

'Uh girls? Where's the stairs gone?' Ginny asked. The other girls including Melinda Eton walked over to Ginny and looked down at the stairs; it had turned into a slide.

'Well I'm sure it goes to the same place' Melinda said going back to her bed to change.

'Hmm…' Ginny said, when she was changed and went back to the door, the stairs had returned, what a shame. She walked down and found Harry, Hermione and Ron waiting on the chairs by the fire,

'Are you okay Ginny?' Ron asked

'Yeah' she said.

'Your scream woke up the whole house. McGonagall came in to see what was going on.' Harry said sleepily

'Oh god' said Ginny with a look of fear, 'what did you tell her?'

'Well when Hermione came sliding down the stairs she just said you had a bad dream' Ron informed her

'Oh yeah, I wish I did' Ginny said sourly giving Hermione an evil look 'why did the stairs turn into a slide?'

'Because Ron tried running up to see if you were okay' Harry mumbled 'pulling me with him'

'But I thought Hermione always used to be in your room?' Ginny asked

'Yeah girls are allowed in the boys dorms but boys aren't allowed in the girl's dorms, old beliefs say that boys are less trustworthy than girls.' Hermione told her 'let's go to breakfast'

They all got up and went down to breakfast.

By the end of breakfast Ginny was so excited that Hermione had to take her outside so she could calm down while Harry and Ron got the timetables for the four of them off of McGonagall. Then the boys joint the girls outside.

'Ginny calmed down yet?' Ron asked Hermione

'Nope' she said sounding amused

'HEY GINNY! GET YOUR ARSE OVER HERE!' Ron called, she came running over and started bouncing on the spot

'Have you got my timetable?' she asked grinning

'Yeah, but you won't be too excited when you see you're first lesson' he said, he handed her the timetable,

'_Tuesday_

_9:00-9:50: Potions, Professor Snape._

_9:50- 10:45: Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall_

_10-45-11:05: morning break_

_11:05-12:05: Charms, Professor Flitwick_

_12:05-13:05: Flying, Madame Hooch_

_13:05-14:10: Lunch_

_14:10-15:10: Defence against the dark arts, Professor Lupin'_

'AH NO!' Ginny cried then she paused. 'I'm sure it won't be too bad. You're always over-exaggerating Ron' and she ran off laughing again.

'I bet she gets a detention by the end of the day' Ron whispered to Harry

'How much?' he asked

'2 Knuts' Ron laughed

'You're on' Harry replied, amused.

'Get ready to hand over your Knuts Harry; she's going to be late for Snape at this rate'

'Ginny, you're going to be late!' Harry called to her. She sprang back over to them,

'Oh right. Thanks Harry' she said grabbing her bag off of the floor.

'And you might want to calm down a bit or you'll be murdered' Harry suggested. Ginny laughed and ran off towards the castle.

'GOOD LUCK!' the trio called after her.

'We better get going too' Hermione reminded them, 'what do we have first?'

'Charms' Ron said, 'then history of magic' he sighed,

'Oh Ron it won't be too bad' Hermione told him, she headed towards the castle and the boys followed a few steps behind.


	5. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 5

'You do have some spare parchment with you don't you?' Ron asked Harry

'Yeah' Harry replied.

'Good' Ron said.

The lessons were more difficult this year. In charms they were practising opening locked boxes with the alohamora charm. As usual Seamus tried his best but it kept resulting in blowing things up, Hermione as usual got everything right on her first go, however this year, she wasn't the only one. The new girl was sat alone in the corner near the door and managed to open her box and get to the treasure inside on her first go too. Seamus who was sitting nearby somehow managed to blow up her box the second time she went to open it so she reformed the box from the pieces and added a bit of extra decoration with a swish of her wand for extra measure, the trio were watching her

'Wow, she's better than you Hermione' Harry said

'She's a show off Harry!' Hermione argued, offended 'I can mend my box but it doesn't need to be mended because it hasn't been blown up' Ron tapped her box making up some strange words as he done so, Hermione's box blew up like the new girl's had done.

'RONALD!' Hermione screamed

'What?' Ron asked 'I was just trying to help' Hermione made a small smile at him and went to flick her wand as the box fixed itself,

'Wow Hermione that was good!' Harry exclaimed 'you never even said anything' Hermione and Ron looked confused. Suddenly some engravings appeared on the box: _'you're welcome'_

'It was her' Hermione said, annoyed looking over to the new girl in the corner. Hermione pointed her wand at her, a few minutes later more engravings appeared on Hermione's box: 'get lost yourself!'

Hermione pointed her wand again and waited. No messages returned so she wiped her wand over her box muttering to herself and wiped the messages away, replacing them with patterns of gold and silver.

'What did you say to her?' Ron asked amusedly,

'I told her to get lost' Hermione answered 'and when she replied I told her that I knew my way around, unlike her, happy common room hunting.' Ron laughed. Hermione smiled. The bell rang so they all left for History of Magic.

History of magic somehow got even more boring this year, Harry and Ron played noughts and crosses, hangman and drew pictures of the teachers emphasising all the bad bits such as Snape's greasy hair and huge nose on Harry's spare parchment while Hermione took notes. And this year only the new girl seemed interested that the teacher was in fact a ghost, however she never spoke all lesson and like Hermione, took notes… It was a much smaller classroom than charms so she sat beside Harry on the opposite side to Ron, Hermione had positioned herself as far away as possible without having to leave the group.

For the trio break time couldn't have come faster. Hermione was fed up of the new girl already as was Ron and Harry was just happy to be out of history of magic. They wondered up to the common room slowly, taking the few shortcuts that they had found the previous year and found Ginny sitting in there talking to some first years. They sat in their usual seats near the fire and started to chat, soon Ginny joined them, Ron and Harry admired their works of art from history of magic but in the end decided that each of the teachers were too gruesome to look at so they threw them into the fire and shouted 'BURN!' at them all as they shrivelled away while Hermione and Ginny had a conversation about their days so far.

'So you've made some friends already?' Hermione asked impressed 'there must have been about 10 people over there talking to you'

'Umm… 8' Ginny said counting on her fingers. 'Yeah it's been quite fun, maybe Ron wasn't quite exaggerating about Snape though.'

'Yeah, he is quite bad, he hates us all. You'll get used to it eventually though you just need to ignore him to some extent' Hermione advised.

'I managed to turn a matchstick into a pencil… well it wasn't what we were supposed to turn it into but I thought it was good' she took a pencil out from her bag and showed it to Hermione. It was quite a short, stubby pencil but it was no longer brown like the matchsticks had been but a bright yellow.

'It's good' Hermione said 'what were you supposed to turn it into?'

'a pen' Ginny said 'so not too far off, but when I used it, it drew out little pieces of ash rather than lead so you can't really use it, but I think I'll send it to mum, she'll be so pleased'

'Yeah Ron only managed to make his matchstick a bit shorter last year in the first lesson. Tell your mum that and she'll be incredibly pleased… with you at least.' Hermione smiled. 'What do you have next?'

'Charms, and then flying lessons, I can't wait' Ginny grinned.

'Oh I had charms earlier. You'll love it.' Hermione said

'I think I'll be looking forward to flying more' Ginny said smiling 'I already know how to fly, slightly.'

'How?' Hermione asked

'I take my brother's brooms out when they're indoors or doing chores.' Ginny said 'Don't tell them, they don't know I take them' Hermione laughed.

'Well Ron will probably never realise even I told him flat out.' Hermione joked 'sounds like you've had a much better morning than me'

'What's happened in your lessons?' Ginny asked.

'well in charms I managed to use the alohamora charm easy, since I've been using since last year' Hermione informed her 'but that new girl was able to use it too, she's such a show off. Seamus blew up her box by mistake and she mended it and added extra decoration, Harry said she was better than me! So Ron blew up my box to prove to Harry I could do the same and when I went to fix it she fixed it from the other side of the room before I had a chance and then wrote "you're welcome" on it with her wand! So we had an argument over the boxes engraving notes to each other and she still had the nerve to sit beside Harry in history of magic!'

'I can't believe Harry!' Ginny said.

'Hey!' Harry said catching onto the conversation at the mention of his name for the second time. 'I've never seen Hermione do any of the stuff that no-name was doing'

'No name?' Ginny asked looking unbelieving

'That's what Harry and I have decided to call her, since she refuses to tell us her name' Ron told Ginny

'Well still it doesn't mean that Hermione can't do those things Harry' Ginny said annoyed 'it just means Hermione doesn't show off about it, I don't like that new girl, not at all.' Harry looked at Ginny but seemed to accept what she thought

'I don't think she's all that bad' Harry replied 'I think you lot just got off on the wrong foot'

'Well she's obviously hopping around on the wrong foot because no-one seems to like her but you' Ginny said roughly.

'Yeah, she took my bed last night' Hermione exclaimed loudly,

'Was your trunk at the end?' Ron asked

'Well no.' Hermione said 'but it's usually my bed-'

'Then it's not her fault' Harry argued 'the house elves obviously decided to put her trunk by that bed. She just went to her trunk.'

The portrait hole swung open again and both of the Weasley twins entered with the new girl. Fred and George spotted the four of them and abandoned the new girl in the middle of the common room to say hi.

'What were you doing with her?' Ginny asked them sourly

'She was lost' Fred said 'what's with her not telling anyone her name?'

'No-one knows' Hermione said. 'Dumbledore must know but no-one has said it, not even any of the teachers.'

'Hmm...' the twins said together.

'So how were your first two lessons, Gin?' George asked, changing the subject


	6. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 6

'**Well potions was dismal' Ginny told him, 'transfiguration was good though, but truly I can't wait for flying lessons, fourth'**

'**Ah Ginny' Fred said 'You will adore flying' Ginny looked at Hermione who held back a grin badly**

'**But unfortunately' George chimed on 'I doubt you'll ever be anything on us'**

'**Wanna bet?' Ginny challenged.**

'**We don't want to take money off of our little sister!' Fred laughed patronisingly.**

'**I'd bet she's better than you would've thought at least' Hermione said smiling,**

'**Ah little girls and their dreams' Fred replied but seeming to talk to Ron and Harry more than Hermione, then they duck-marched each other away over the common room.**

'**Are they always like that in school?' Ginny asked**

'**Yeah but it's all in good fun' Harry answered**

'**Looks like the new girl took my advice though' Hermione said, winking at Ron and Ginny.**

'**What advice?' Harry enquired**

'**To get lost' they said together making it a little louder than they meant to. The new girl who was sitting on the opposite side of the room looked up at them all they all stared back at her except Harry who turned around and smiled apologetically at her.**

'**Suck up' Ginny whispered to Hermione and then they both managed to crack a smile as they looked away from the girl.**

'**Don't you think she's kind of… pretty?' Harry asked Ron who looked shocked at the sudden address. Suddenly Hermione and Ginny gave up interest in the boys and went to look at the notice board together.**

'**Why do they need to go everywhere in pairs?' Ron asked changing the subject**

'**You know who doesn't?' Harry asked 'the new girl, don't you think she's quite good looking?'**

'**She's not BAD looking' Ron said not looking entirely unimpressed, 'I don't know why you care about her to be honest'**

'**She deserves to have a friend' Harry said**

'**Yeah, but she doesn't seem to want one' Ron enlightened him, 'she wont tell anyone her name'**

'**That's not the point' Harry said 'she's obviously just uncomfortable here at the moment, she doesn't know any-' he stopped talking as Hermione and Ginny came back from the notice board.**

'**Those extra lessons are starting today!' Hermione exploded 'it starts with muggle studies, so whose coming?'**

'**NO!' both of the boys yelled at her**

'**Oh come on guys' Ginny said 'it couldn't hurt, you'd only be sitting around talking anyway'**

'**Are YOU going Ginny?' Ron asked amazed**

'**Yeah' Ginny replied, 'Hermione needs to have some company and Dad would be happy with me for trying'**

'**But Hermione lives with muggles' Harry explained 'like me, so neither of us needs to go'**

'**So you don't need to keep to Hermione company then either' Ron said triumphantly**

'**It would still be interesting' Ginny said**

'**And it would be fascinating to learn about them from a wizard point of view' Hermione added**

'**So you both have company just go together then' Ron said sounding bored**

'**Fine we will then!' Ginny stated 'Dad will be so disappointed with you for not going'**

'**Oh well, it's not like Fred and George are going either' Ron said**

'**Well they have more work to get on with than you' Hermione reminded him**

'**yeah and they might still go they like to learn their tricks' Ginny said smiling slightly 'if they go then dad will be even more disappointed in you, because if the twins find time to go then you have no excuse!'**

'**Tough' Ron said while Hermione and Ginny stared at him and Harry.**

'**What? I have no reason to go!' Harry said looking taken aback,**

'**And Harry needs company too!' Ron triumphed again. Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and made an un-spoken agreement to leave it for now, but to try again later.**

**Just before lunch Hermione, Harry and Ron had transfiguration with Professor McGonagall. It was a particularly bad lesson for Hermione, who was asked to move next to the new girl**

'**Just in case she needs any help' McGonagall told her, 'you are supposed to be welcoming her to Hogwarts, not ignoring her.'**

'**But Miss, what's her name?' Hermione had asked.**

'**There's your first conversation piece then' McGonagall said, avoiding answering.**

**The new girl however, as in charms never needed any help and nor did Hermione, they spent the lesson ignoring each other and when McGonagall looked over they'd pretend to chat while truly throwing more insults at one another. By the end of the lesson they were far past fighting and shared nothing but evil glares that were much more hateful than they seemed to be and both were extremely pleased to hear the bell signalling the end of lesson. McGonagall came over to them both before they managed to escape.**

'**Well done both of you. You done some excellent work today and they were some pretty challenging tasks' she told them. 'Please sit beside each other each lesson I feel you work well together and you seem to get along quite well'**

'**But miss-' they both said at once**

'**Yes?' she replied.**

'**What about Harry and Ron?' Hermione argued**

'**Miss I don't need extra help, I like to work alone' the new girl argued at the same time**

'**Don't be silly, both of you, you could both get on really well if you gave it a shot, and Harry and Ron have each other Miss Granger.' then McGonagall turned and walked to the front of the class room, Hermione and the new girl shared another evil look before departing**

'**Oh and Miss Granger' McGonagall said as Hermione reached the door**

'**Yes professor?' she replied**

'**I hope you'll consider taking part in some extra subjects at lunchtimes too, we want to make a good name for Gryffindor plus I'm sure you will be good at it, you seemed to make a good impression on our newest student' McGonagall said**

'**Yes professor, I'm going to, I want to try out everything, it will make it easier to choose next year and I'll know some things already.' Hermione said 'in fact I'm going to muggle studies now, I've been trying to persuade Ron and Harry to join me'**

'**Well don't let me hold you up, enjoy the class.'**

'**Thank you professor' Hermione said, turning and finally leaving the room. Hermione ran down the corridor and soon caught up with Harry and Ron.**

'**Why are you running Hermione? Your class doesn't start for another quarter of an hour' Ron laughed**

'**Actually Ronald it starts immediately, we have a quarter of an hour for lunch after the lesson. And I still think you should come.' Hermione said**

'**We've been through this Hermione' Ron complained 'I don't want to go. Anyway I'm hungry and I want lunch now, not at the end of break.'**

'**Ronald you're always hungry! You're dad would be so happy to find out you've chosen to study muggle studies on the side of your current subjects and you'll be able to see just how good Ginny is in lessons.' Hermione pleaded.**

'**Well now you can let me know' Ron said grinning, 'no need for me to be there too.'**

**Hermione pulled a face, and shouted after them as they walked away 'FINE THEN! I HOPE GINNY DOESN'T MIND THAT HER BROTHER DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HER ENOUGH TO COME TO ONE LESSON!'**

'**So do I' he shouted back sarcastically.**

**Hermione gave up and turned through to another corridor. She met Ginny half way down and together they walked to muggle studies while Ginny told Hermione about flying ('Madame Hooch said I was one of the best at hovering, and we're starting to fly faster next lesson, at the end of the term we're going to have a small quidditch match, Boys vs. Girls.') and Hermione told Ginny about transfiguration and having to sit by the new girl ('and now I have sit by her every lesson, but at least McGonagall thinks I'm the reason she's any good').**

**x During Muggle Studies x**

**Hermione and Ginny sat together at the side of the class room and looked around, not many people were there and as far as they knew, no-one muggle-born except from Hermione was there either.**


	7. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 7

Pansy Parkinson was sat at the front on the opposite side of the room with another girl from Slytherin, neither of them looked Happy and had seemed to be forced to come, behind them was the new girl who gave Hermione another evil look, behind her was a little blonde girl who Ginny said was called Luna Lovegood who had huge misty blue eyes that never blinked very often, Luna looked as if she had walked in by accident and just sat down but as Ginny told Hermione this was entirely normal for her, she was sitting beside a young Gryffindor boy, who looked petrified by her sitting beside him. In the next row, at the front were two third years boys from Hufflepuff who looked mildly interested and tense waiting for the lesson to begin, the rest of that line was empty apart from two older boys who neither Hermione or Ginny knew, they suspected they were Ravenclaws but they weren't wearing their robes and in the line where Hermione and Ginny were sat, there were the girls called Nicola Clarke and Stephanie Davies from the sorting ceremony, and they were unsurprisingly laughing at full volume and speaking in strange voices things that sounded completely irrelevant and sounded strangely as if they were talking about breakfast cereals.

'Ron would like them' Ginny laughed. Hermione smiled, she had been thinking exactly the same thing.

The teacher came in

'Hello class' she said 'I am called Professor Taito'

Stephanie and Nicola starting giggling at the front

'I like potatoes' Hermione heard one of them whisper, though she wasn't sure which one said it.

'These lessons wont be the same as regular muggle studies, since you're giving up your own free time, so I'm going to do my best to make them fun, while still teaching you some things about muggles'

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and grinned.

'So I've decided to focus us on your age groups because it is more likely you'll be able to relate to them. Over the year I will give you a chance to borrow some teenage muggle books and do some things that the muggle teenagers do but I will sometimes give you some work for out of the class room to see what you can do.'

There was some excited muttering around the class room.

'Today, I think we will start by working in pairs, I want you to write down everything you know about muggles and while you're all doing that I'll come around and make a register. Of course you don't have to continue, but you cannot come on and off or only whenever you're bored as you'll slow down the progress. So everything you know about muggles, work in pairs now. Oh yes, you girls can work in a three.' Professor Taito said pointing at Pansy Parkinson, the girl beside her and the new girl. For once the new girl looked optimistic at the idea of working with someone else.

Ginny grinned 'we're going to get the most in the class' she whispered. Hermione got some spare parchment out of her bag and they looked at each other.

'Where do we start?' Hermione asked.

'Uh…' Ginny paused, 'What's the function of a rubber duck?' she asked

'What?' Hermione asked amusedly,

'Dad asked Harry this summer' Ginny told her, 'but then Errol came with the post and interrupted them before he could think of an answer.'

'It's a bath toy' Hermione said, 'the children play with them in the bath tubs and let them float about on the water, sometimes they squeak when you squeeze them.'

'Then you can start by writing that' Ginny smiled

'Okay, but lets choose some stuff that's different, that doesn't seem so trivial and childish' Hermione agreed, she started writing about rubber ducks.

'Okay.' Ginny said, she paused 'I keep hearing dad say stuff about _ecctricity _or something'

'You mean _electricity_?' Hermione asked

'Probably'

'Okay, I'll list loads of things that run with electricity, and whether they use batteries or plugs, and I'll explain what each of them is.'

'Okay cool' Ginny replied smiling. 'What about hobbies?'

'Umm… well there's football, I've never really been into it myself, and Rugby, and hockey and basketball and netball,' Hermione said noting them down as she spoke 'and there's ice skating, but witches and wizards do quite a few of these things too. Oh that reminds me pictures! Muggle's pictures don't move'

'They don't?' Ginny asked amazed 'how did sports remind you of that?'

'Well I remembered Ron telling me about how he thought Dean's football poster in the dormitory seemed weird because the people didn't move' Hermione said thoughtfully.

'Have you got any pictures with you?' Ginny asked

'umm I might have one of my parents in my bag' Hermione said, she stuck her hand in and pulled out her purse, opening it she hid the money from Ginny tactfully and took out a picture, 'here, it's of them getting married'

Ginny looked at it carefully and poked at the figures on the paper

'Nothing!' she said amazed 'that's so strange'

'That's what Ron says' Hermione told her. Five minutes later everyone was sharing ideas, Ginny and Hermione as they expected, had the most in the class, they had gone through the regular muggle and wizard days writing all the differences down, and went through a bit of history of some time saving appliances, which Hermione had added alone while Ginny suggested that it was unnecessary.

'And someone invented the dishwasher in the 1920s' Hermione added to the end of their list.

'That was brilliant, you know lots about muggles, and I don't know how much I can teach you' Professor Taito said

'You can teach me loads, I didn't know any of this stuff' Ginny muttered, suddenly she realised Professor Taito heard her so she looked down at the table quickly.

'What are your names?' Professor Taito asked pretending she never heard Ginny.

'Hermione Granger' Hermione said proudly

'Ginny Weasley' Ginny mumbled, still watching the table she was standing above

'Okay thank you, sit down.' Professor Taito stated. Ginny sat down incredibly fast, almost overturning the chair, her face now turning red.

They had been the last pair to tell the class their list so Miss Taito started talking again:

'So we seem to know a fair bit about muggles then' she flicked her wand at the board and the ideas everyone had come up with appeared. 'The fact is you all work a lot harder than the muggles in your classes, as it takes a lot longer to write instructions on the board and they can only do a limited number of things at any time without magic so it's only right that you get to have some fun here. Everyone stand up, please and move to the back of the room.'

Everyone stood up and moved, Professor Taito pointed her wand at each table and they crashed together into the middle of the room followed by the chairs which formed a large square around the tables.

'Okay you can sit back down now' she said taking a seat at one edge of the square, everyone followed her instructions.

'Now,' she continued 'out of all the muggle hobbies you have told me, what do you think of them all? Which is your favourite or your least favourite, from what you know about them already, lets start on this side of me, Miss Weasley'

Ginny went pale and looked at the board with all the ideas on it, 'Uh… I… I think I like the sound of television'

'Okay' Professor Taito flicked her wand at the board again, this time putting a tick beside television 'Thank you, Now Miss Granger.'

'Um… I like Hockey' she said quietly, Professor Taito flicked her wand,

'Mr Giro?'

'Football' and professor Taito flicked her wand,

'Mr Malcolm?'

'Computer Games', flick.


	8. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 8

'Mr Anderson?'

'Football' flicks.

'Miss Parkinson?'

'I like the sound of them telephones, as they call them' Pansy said

'Yeah 'cause she never stops talking' laughed the girl Pansy had brought along.

'Oh yes?' said Professor Taito to the girl who was laughing, 'well what about you Miss Green?'

'Oh I like the feletones too' she laughed

'Me too' said Nicola and Stephanie together

'Okay' Said Professor Taito flicking her wand at the board and putting four flicks beside "Telephones" written on the board.

'I like watching Muggle movies' Luna Lovegood stated simply in a sing-song sort of voice. Professor Taito ticked it.

'Photography' the scared little Gryffindor boy said in turn and it was ticked.

'Well it looks like only 2 people are left to talk, Mr Walker?' Professor Taito offered

'Well there are them firing ranges, that might be fun' he said slowly, professor Taito flicked it on the board. Stephanie and Nicola looked at each other as if they were thinking that he was emphasising on an underlying joke.

'Last but not least' she said, but paused; she clearly didn't know the new girl's name either. However the new girl knew she was last

'Actually' she said 'I really like the idea of them "chat rooms"', she was confident in going against everyone else but sounded thoughtful.

'Okay' Professor Taito said ticking the words on the board, well I'm quite surprised to see the different range of interest in one class, but we did also have a wide range of knowledge this year. Consequently we are also almost out of time. So to those of you who join us next week, please make a speech or presentation on one of the muggle activities, you may work in groups if you want to, and next lesson at the end of the presentations we will make a decision as a class on which to study first. You may go.'

Hermione and Ginny got up to leave and as soon as leaving the classroom started to discuss what to make a presentation on. However their conversation was cut short as Pansy Parkinson followed them out of the room,

'Why were you there Granger?' she taunted 'Don't like being a witch? Don't worry, you're not a witch, you're only a mudblood'

'DON'T CALL HER THAT!' Ginny shouted madly

'Like you're going to stop me Weaslette!' Pansy called back as she strutted off down the corridor with her friend. Behind Hermione and Ginny the new girl had just left the classroom, she walked straight into Hermione and dropped her bag on the floor, letting the contents spill out.

'Thanks a lot granger' she knelt down and began to pick everything up.

'It wasn't Hermione's fault you weren't watching where u were going!' Ginny defended,

'You two shouldn't stand in the doorway' the new girl replied spitefully

'We weren't!' Ginny said just as sharply.

Hermione helped the new girl by picking up a book from the floor and handing it to her, but she just took it and walked away.

'She is so rude!' Ginny complained, 'you shouldn't have helped her, Hermione. Not if she's not going to say thanks' They walked off down the corridor to the great hall for lunch, and unsurprisingly found Harry and Ron in there, Harry was as usual watching Ron eat.

'Have you been in here all lunch?' Hermione asked pretending to be surprised 'you might as well have come to the lesson!'

'Can't… Eat… There' Ron managed to say between mouthfuls

'How was the lesson?' Harry asked Ginny as the other two continued to quarrel

'It was good' Ginny said and added slightly louder and faster 'You wouldn't believe that muggle pictures don't move!'

'Ginny, I grew up with muggles' Harry stated

'Oh… Right, yeah… Sorry I forgot' she admitted as she sat down beside him.

_***I AM GOING TO START CALLING THE NEW GIRL "NO NAME", NOW IT'S EASIER!***_

When Hermione, Ginny and Ron had finished eating the four of them left the hall. In the corridor outside of the great hall no-name was walking towards them all, Harry stopped suddenly

'Are you okay?' he asked seeing her sad looking face

'I'm fine' she said and walked straight passed him. Hermione, Ginny and Ron gave each other a look to confirm that they all thought Harry was being stupid.

'Come on mate' Ron said from ahead of Harry as the other 2 had began to walk off, so they joined them and walked into the sunlit courtyard. Not long after being there everyone was in a quiet argument about the new girl.

Hermione, who was sitting on the wall leaning on the post kept reminding Harry of how the new girl treated them all, Ron, who was leaning on the same post as Hermione but from the other side, making a strange silhouette against the low sun kept telling Harry that she had made it perfectly clear she didn't want friends in this school. While Ginny, resting against the wall, insisted that Harry was entitled to be friends with whoever he likes however the new girl didn't seem to be the right person to make friends with, even to Ginny. Harry was only fighting for the right to offer the new girl to hang around with them for a while.

'Guys, it's just to allow her to settle in' Harry insisted

'She seemed happier to work with the Slytherins in Muggle Studies' Hermione said to him 'she can settle in with them'

'She's been treating Hermione terribly' Ginny said softly 'she wont even give her a chance'

'Not to mention me' Ron said 'I only asked a question and she suddenly hated me'

'She's in Gryffindor, she can't be all bad and none of you seem to be giving her a chance so why should she give you one?' Harry challenged

'But you've been giving her a chance Harry and she hasn't took that either' Hermione reminded him

'She could just be THAT nice that she knows we're all friends and doesn't want to break us all up, and since you lot wont give her a chance she can't give me a chance because you may all hate ME' Harry suggested

'Oh yeah, what's the likeliness of that being true?' Hermione and Ron said together

'Look Harry,' Ginny said 'if you want to make friends with someone make friends with Collin Creevey or someone, he WANTS to be your friend unlike "no-name".'

'Who?' Harry asked

'The boy with the camera don't worry I'm sure he'll find you one day, then you'll regret it' she joked

'Why?' Harry said looking worried

'He's muggle-born' she told him 'he's just discovered you and your past, and wizard pictures, by that I suppose he meant that they move and how to make them move. He's taking as many pictures as possible to take back to show his dad, you'll be hounded by him.'

'Okay' Harry said looking worriedly confused.

'My point is Harry, This new girl, she doesn't seem like a very nice person, she seems more like… I don't know, like Malfoy?' Ginny said quietly

'Like Malfoy?' Harry said louder than he had meant to 'she's in Gryffindor, she CAN'T be like him'

'Maybe she was cunning AND brave?' Hermione suggested 'that could be why the hat took so long to house her.'

'But it made its decision that she'd fit in Gryffindor more' Harry added 'that means she's more like us than Malfoy'

'Yeah but how much more like us?' Ron asked 'She could have loads of cunning but just in one situation she'd act differently than the Slytherins which made her a Gryffindor'

'Not likely' Harry told him

'But it is possible Harry' Hermione reminded him

'So? It's possible you'll kill Ron but I doubt that'll happen' Harry challenged

'I wouldn't be so sure' Ginny added jokingly

'Or that this Collin Creevey boy will kill me with his camera' Harry continued, ignoring Ginny.

'I wouldn't be so sure of that either' Ginny added again.


	9. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 9

Everyone fell silent for several minutes until Hermione jumped up,

'I'm going to potions' she announced 'I really don't see the point of hanging around here for another 2 minutes.'

'I'll come too' Ron said, everyone looked shocked 'I'll be walking incredibly slowly' he reassured them 'I still won't be on time' Ginny decided that she'd go to her next lesson too leaving Harry alone with a quick sorry. He looked around the almost deserted courtyard for a second and began to follow Hermione's and Ron's footsteps to the dungeons. As he entered the castle he almost ran into the new girl.

'Sorry' he said to her

'No problem' she said quietly and carried on walking.

'Are you okay?' he asked her as he had done earlier but as she walked away.

'Yeah' she mumbled turning around to looking at him this time.

'I'm going to our next lesson, do you want to walk together?' he offered, she paused for a while; she didn't really seem too pleased about it but decided to go anyway. They started walking together slowly and in silence.

'So your friend uhh… Hermione, I didn't know she was a mud-… muggle-born' No Name said slowly

'Does it really matter?' Harry asked

'Well no' she said 'but she's proved all my theories wrong about how a muggle-born can't be as good as a pureblood though, you'd have thought she'd admit it to prove me wrong. She hasn't really done better than ME but some of the other people in our class, like that Longbottom kid, is he muggle-born? Or pureblood?'

'He's a pureblood' Harry said quietly

'And the Finnegan one?'

'He's a half-blood' Harry informed her.

'Well they're both terrible compared to Hermione' she said openly impressed

'Neville just needs to be more confident' Harry told her firmly 'and Seamus is just a bit too confident at times. They're both very good really.'

'Okay sorry' she said not sounding at all sorry. They walked a bit longer in silence before Harry couldn't stop himself from asking quickly

'What IS your name?' The new girl stared at him.

'I mean,' Harry changed quickly 'if you don't want us to know your name, what SHOULD we call you?'

'Anything you want' she said in an exasperated whisper.

'So I could call you… No name? New Girl? Penelope? Barbie? Baby? Sexy? Mum?'

'Yes, though I would be worried if you decided to call me mum' she said giving him an odd look

'So what if I called you Hermione, or Pansy?' Harry suggested jokingly

'I don't think they'd be too happy about that but if u must.' she said holding her head high. Harry shook his head in disbelief while she was looking away but he was happy to be in a conversation with her rather than walking in a tense silence.

'Do you like quidditch?' Harry asked, changing the subject.

'Yeah, it's great. I play chaser usually' she said

'You play?' Harry asked astounded

'Yes, why? Don't you think girls can play it?' she asked

'No, almost half the players on the Gryffindor team are girls' Harry informed her 'I just didn't really imagine you playing it'

'right.' she said slowly 'when's the first school quidditch match? And are there any try outs that I can go to?' Harry was amazed at her interest

'Umm' Harry said 'I don't know you'll have to ask Oliver Wood, he's the Gryffindor captain.' Harry looked at his watch 'we're going to be late for Snape' he told her and quickened his pace. She copied.

'Right, so who's Oliver Wood? If I were to look for him?' she asked

'Tall, mousy-brown hair, sixth year' Harry briefed her as they entered the dungeons corridor. They were now in view of the class standing outside, including Hermione and Ron who looked amazed but Harry didn't care.

'I'd like to see you play sometime' Harry said

'Well we still have flying lessons' she told him

'Yeah, but they're just flying around, not quidditch.' Harry alerted her.

'Well then you'll have to wait and see if I'm on the team' she told him sourly

'Well why can't we meet up after school?' Harry asked 'I'll play keeper and you can show me how good you are'

'Sorry I'm busy' she said proudly.

'Oh' Harry said, and then he had a sudden thought 'which Quidditch team do you support?'

'I prefer to play it rather than watch' she told him 'but I suppose the Chudley Canons' Harry was delighted but before he could say anything else they were following the rest of the class into the classroom. The new girl separated herself from everyone else. While Harry hastily sat beside Ron and Hermione. Ron looked at him in surprise while Hermione gave him a slightly hurt look. He faced the front of the class and pretended not to see their glares. Across the classroom, he saw the new girl sit down on her own on the opposite side of the room. She looked solemn and preoccupied, she put her head on her hand and for a moment her eyes met Harry's then quickly she looked away towards Snape, smiling slightly. Her large jumper made her look like a little girl in her fathers clothes which gave her a vulnerable look. Suddenly Harry began questioning everything, 'why did she wear those clothes? Why won't she tell anyone her name? Where has she come from? Who is she? Can she be trusted? Why is she here? Why is she so closed off?' He made a promise to himself that he'd find out at least one of these questions by the end of the week or they would never leave his mind. But For now, he had potions to think about and the horror that is Snape.

Potions seemed to take forever compared to the previous year, but Harry put this down to the summer which seemed to make the others seem shorter than they seemed at the time. They were all concentrating so hard they barely had any time to talk during the lesson but Harry was determined to talk to Hermione and Ron.

'She's not all that bad' he said to them as if carrying on the conversation from break time, both Hermione and Ron ignored him. 'She likes quidditch' Harry told Ron 'She supports the Chudley Canons' Ron looked at him as he always did when someone mentioned his team.

'Really?' he asked surprised and impressed, he looked over at the girl in the oversize jumper but Hermione gave him a glare 'well then she's not dumb at least' Ron finalised.

'Well guys, I know you don't like her, but I've got her stuck on my mind,' Hermione and Ron looked shocked at him 'well not HER exactly, but all these things about her that I want to know, like her name, where she's come from, why she's so closed off and they're going to stick in my mind until I find out the answer to at least ONE of these questions. So I hope you don't mind but I'm going to try everything to find one answer.'

'Harry that is absolutely appalling' Hermione said in a high-pitched voice

'Why?' Harry and Ron asked together.

'Because' Hermione began in a boys-are-real-idiots tone 'you're going to try to find out something she doesn't want anyone to know and as soon as you find it out you're going to go and tell Ronald and anyone else who asks to gloat, and then you're just going to stop talking to her because you've got your peace of mind!'

'I will not!' Harry defended himself 'Why would I do that?'

'You said they're going to stick in your mind until you find out at least ONE' Hermione told him 'you practically said it Harry!'

'Well that doesn't mean I wont talk to her or hang around with her afterwards' Harry defended again 'but you lot won't let me talk to her A LOT'

'We won't stop you from hanging around with her' Hermione argued 'but I won't hang around with her personally'

'Which stops me if I want to hang around with you too' Harry argued


	10. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 10

'Of course it doesn't you just spend less time with me, you don't have to spend all the time with us.' Hermione said

'But I don't want to be ignoring you lot' Harry told her, 'not even for a while'

'Well, well, well, what do we have here?' said a cold snide voice, they had all totally forgotten about their potions which were heating up quickly and were already over-heated.

'Despicable even compared to your usual dwindling standards' Professor Snape said to the trio 'Mr Potter, can you see the board from here?'

'Yes' Harry said shortly

'Yes, SIR, Potter' Snape corrected him

'No need to call me sir, professor' Harry said mockingly

'10 points from Gryffindor for Potter's cheek' Snape said coolly 'tell me, Potter, what colour does it say to boil the potions to?'

'Bright green sir' Harry read exasperatedly

'And Mr Weasley' Snape continued, 'what colour are these three potions?' Ron looked down at the potions

'Well, Harry's and mine are black, and Hermione's is a very dark turquoise' Ron told him sourly

'Less of the attitude Weasley, 10 points from Gryffindor, and 30 for not paying attention in classes' He said slyly

'But Sir!' they chorused

'Each' Snape added evilly. They all stood there shell-shocked but never answered back knowing it'd get them in more trouble. Snape waved his wand over each potion clearing the contents of each cauldron 'and you all fail, you haven't got enough time to begin again' Snape said coolly and he skulked away. Harry, Hermione and Ron started tidying away their ingredients. There was a silence between the trio for a moment,

'If you want to try to be her friend, Harry, then fine, go try' Ron told him

'What about you guys?' Harry asked

'We'll deal with it' Ron told him giving a sideward glance at Hermione.

'Well okay, I'm going to TRY then.' Harry told them.

After all this, Snape set an essay for homework plus extra for the trio but at least the bell came quickly. Harry dropped behind to talk to the new girl.

'Hi' he said as she caught up with him

'Hi' she said quietly

'So what are you up to tonight?' he asked

'Sleeping' she told him

'Straight away?' he asked

'I'm tired, I'm going to dinner then going to bed'

'Maybe we can go to dinner together then?' Harry asked

'No thanks' she replied

'I'm offended' Harry said unconvincingly

'Sure you are' she told him sarcastically

'Are you sure you're going straight to bed after dinner?' he asked

'Yeah' she replied, she hadn't yet made eye contact with him.

'Well I'd really like to see you play quidditch' Harry told her

'I know'

'Well, maybe you could let me see then?' he requested, she never replied. 'It wont be like a date or anything' Harry reassured her 'it's just my friend Ron and I are going to play tonight, after dinner. He supports the Chudley Canons too, you know.'

'I can't come Harry.'

'Because you don't get along with Ron?' Harry asked

'No' she said

'Well if you change your mind I'll be waiting in the centre of the pitch at 7. Ron and I will be done by then' Harry said 'but if you want to give Ron a chance feel free to come earlier' and he walked down the corridor before she managed to answer. He caught up with Ron and Hermione again.

'How'd it go?' Hermione asked sounding as if she was told to ask and only agreed reluctantly.

'I'm not sure' Harry told her 'She wouldn't say yes, so I told her that Ron and I were going to play quidditch tonight and if she wants to join us or just me after then she can'

'Oh, but mate, Hermione was going to help me with the potions work tonight.'

'But you can do that later can't you?' he pleaded

'You know what Hermione's like when it comes to homework Harry' Ron replied

'Hey!' Hermione said offended

'What will you help me later then?' Ron asked, Hermione gave him a look to say that she wouldn't be happy if he passed on it especially for a girl like no-name. 'That's a no Harry.' Ron told him 'she probably wouldn't come early anyway, she hates me, just go down when you said we'd be done and see if she turns up at all. Sorry mate.'

'Ok no problem' Harry said, I might go and practise alone in case she does come earlier anyway.' They all went back to the common room and Harry got out his broomstick, the new girl was no where to be seen in the common room but he didn't get his hopes up.

'Harry' someone said from behind him as he walked towards the portrait hole with his broomstick. Harry jumped and quickly turned around.

'Already practising for quidditch?' Oliver Wood was standing behind him. Harry smiled when he saw him

'Hi Oliver' he answered 'well, I kinda am'

'I like your attitude Harry, we're sure to win the cup this year with this attitude. Do you mind if I join you?'

'Not at all' Harry said, happy for company. He waited for wood to collect his broom before he made his way down to the quidditch pitch.

'Do we need any new players for the team this year?' Harry asked Oliver when they were in the closest courtyard

'Uh… no, why?' he answered

'Well there's this new Gryffindor girl, she's a second year and it turns out she likes playing quidditch, well she's not really settling in, but when we got into conversation about quidditch she seemed quite interested in trying out for the house team.' Harry told him

'That new girl that the sorting hat took ages to house?' Oliver asked

'Yeah' said Harry

'Well maybe I can check out her flying in case we ever need a substitute' he compromised, 'I should probably do that for everyone that's interested in the house anyway. We're always having accidents in our team, perhaps you remember' he laughed emptily with a pained look on his face.

'Yeah' Harry said he wouldn't forget missing the final game in the last year.

'Is she coming down tonight?' Wood asked

'I'm not sure' Harry told him, he explained the situation.

'Well I guess you'll see if she comes or not then.' Wood told him 'I haven't really seen her around much'

'No-one has she sort of disappears.' Harry told him 'no-one tends to care though, not many people like her.'

'What's up with her?' he asked

'I think she doesn't really want to let anyone get close to her' Harry informed him 'she wont tell anyone her name and she acts as if she's better than us and she tries to cut every conversation as short as possible and she turns down all invitations, that's why I'm not so sure whether or not she'll come tonight. Most girls wouldn't leave guys waiting in the cold, according to Hermione, but Hermione doesn't like the new girl. I think she's jealous, she's not the best in the class anymore.'

'If this new girl's so good in the class room do you think she'll be any good at quidditch?' Wood asked concerned

'I'm not sure, she seems to be good at everything, so she might be. But then Hermione's good at everything other than quidditch too, she doesn't like flying though.' Harry told him thoughtfully

'Ok' Wood replied as they walked onto the quidditch pitch, 'I'll get the balls out'.

Harry took off and flew around the pitch quickly, soon Oliver Wood was out, he opened the quidditch trunk and threw up the quaffle. Harry, hovering a little bit above him caught it, and shouted down to him, 'get in front of the hoops; I'll practise catching the snitch later.'

Wood grabbed his broom and joined Harry in the air, he stationed himself in front of the middle hoop, Harry built up some speed as he swerved from the opposite hoops down the pitch towards Wood, at the last second he pulled his Nimbus 2000 into a sharp turn and aimed towards the lowest of the three hoops.


	11. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 11

He threw the quaffle, it was almost at the hoop, it was going straight for the hoop it was centimetres away,

'BOOM!' Wood kicked it away just in the nick of time. 'Close one. I'm a bit rusty after the summer, I'm afraid.' He said briefly before getting back in position. Harry collected the quaffle from the ground and swerved back up towards Oliver and feinted, he shot towards the right hoop but turned quickly towards the left, Oliver wasn't fooled he swung towards the quaffle, he threw himself off of the broom hanging on by one arm and kicked the large red ball knocking it so hard that it went flying directly into the opposite side's middle hoop.

'Wow' Harry exclaimed watching the ball fall to the floor on the opposite side of the pitch 'That was great.'

'The keeper would have been there, it would've gone to the hands of the other team if I had done that in a game.' he told Harry swinging himself back onto the broom. They continued practising keeping for an hour and a half which made it to half past 5, then they raced a while around the pitch and Wood had a go on Harry's Nimbus 2000. At 6:30 Wood raced Harry to catch the snitch up until 6:50 when he left. Harry carried on practising catching the snitch, he didn't see the point in waiting on the floor when she might not even show up. It was 7:00... 7:05... 7:10... 7:14. Harry was just considering leaving as he let go of the snitch for the final time that night he gave it a ten second head start and zoomed silently after it. As he shot around the pitch a girl walked onto the pitch and looked at the centre, no-one was there. She walked forward and stood still for a few seconds.

'I was starting to think you weren't coming' said a voice above her. She looked up and saw Harry hovering above her silently; it was a magnificent site to look up at him, maroon quidditch robes swirling gently in the thin breeze along with his hair. The sun was shining, low behind him, giving him a silver lining which gave him the impression of some stunning gold and red statue.

'Well I had to see if you were really as good as they say' she said mounting her own broom to join him in the thrilling air. She zoomed off away from him to the trunk of balls

'Where's the snitch?' she asked him

'Here' Harry told her opening his hand and letting it take off from his palm,

'I'll race you to get it, 5 seconds for it to go ahead though' No-name nodded in agreement, they waited and then set off like lightening towards the snitch. It was roughly half way between them by this time and they headed straight at each other, No-name began to slow down so she could follow the snitch without colliding into Harry but Harry leant into his nimbus and pulled upwards sharply as the snitch made it's move, after this Explosion of speed it didn't take long for Harry to catch the snitch. No-name began to hover nearby as she watched Harry level out the nimbus 2000.

'Not bad' she admitted quietly.

'It's mainly because I have a good broom' Harry told her

'A broom is only as good as its rider' she replied deeply

'You weren't too bad yourself' Harry told her as he flew down to the box of equipment 'but as you said, you play chaser, so lets see how good YOU are' he locked up the snitch and brought out the big red quaffle.

'I'll be keeper' Harry informed as he threw the quaffle to her; she wobbled slightly as she let go of her broom with both hands to grab it.

'You're not very good at passing' she told him as if determined to find a flaw in his quidditch skills. He took his place in front of the goal hoops and watched her make her way to the opposite end of the pitch. She swerved, ducked, rolled and dodged invisible obstacles in the air making it almost impossible for Harry to understand her tactics, but at the last second she pulled one way and feinted as she span to kick the quaffle easily through the opposite hoop. Harry looked at her gob smacked; he had never seen such an elegant corkscrew move. She saw his jaw open slightly and grinned as she sped down to collect the quaffle again.

'Let's try that again' she shouted to him as she fled back to her original position.

Again she came swerving, dodging and rolling towards Harry's post but Harry deciphered her moves this time before she reached him and sped in the right direction as she threw the quaffle at the hoop, this time Harry managed to knock it away just in time. They continued playing, including some more races with the snitch until it began to get dark when they finally packed away in the twilight. They hadn't talked much other than trying to find flaws in each others flying but now Harry had a chance to try to find out something about her. She walked away as he put away the trunk into the quidditch shed, he shoved it on to the top shelf and locked the door, then he quickly ran to catch up with no-name. It didn't take long to catch up with her in the corridor.

'That was cool' Harry said to her, in an attempt to make conversation 'we should do it again sometime'

'We'll see' she said, making it clear that she didn't really want to.

'Fine' Harry said he paused 'So, we've just spent about 2 and a half hours together, do you want to know the weird thing?'

'Not really' she said

'Tough' Harry laughed 'it's that I still don't know anything about you'

'Wow I never realised.' she said 'oh wait, yeah I did, I don't care'

'Oh come on' Harry pleaded 'one thing? However small it is, just tell me one TINY thing?' no-name ignored him 'you can ask me anything you like and I will answer if you just tell me one really tiny insignificant thing'

'Why do you care so much?' she asked sourly

'Is that your question?'

'No' she said

'Then I don't need to answer,' Harry winked at her. She gave him an obvious look that said "he's so immature"

'Okay, okay.' Harry gave in 'I'll answer that plus your one question if you tell me something' No-name stayed silent, but she looked as if she was thinking so Harry just watched her.

'Uhh…' she began 'I like playing chaser'

'Aww not fair! I already knew that' Harry complained.

'Fine. You don't get anything then' she told him and to Harry's disappointment they walked the rest of the way back to the Gryffindor common room in total silence.

'Done It yet?' Ron asked as Harry separated himself from no name and sat down beside Ron, Hermione and Ginny in the common room.

'Huh?' Harry asked, dazed, then he realised what he had planned on doing 'oh… no, I asked her to tell me one thing, anything, but it never worked.'

'Tough luck, mate' Ron said, he still hadn't taken his eyes off of his work. Harry looked at the other two, Hermione, unsurprisingly had her head buried in a book but Ginny smiled at Harry as he looked at her, he sent a grateful smile her way in reply.

'Hermione's right about your flying' Ginny said quickly.

'What?' Harry replied

'She said you were really good' Ginny shrugged 'I passed the pitch earlier, I had left something in the great hall and I saw you racing that girl for the snitch. That was an amazing dodge'

'Dodge?' Harry asked

'When you pulled upwards as she slowed down, it was almost an exact right angle you pulled' Ginny told him

'Oh right, umm… thanks. I'm going to put my things away' Harry stood up and walked up the boys' staircase.

Once in his dorm he put his things away carefully and looked out of the window. He saw Hagrid's cabin and vowed to go see him tomorrow.


	12. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 12

The next morning Harry woke up unprepared for another day at school. He dragged himself away from the warmth of his bed sheets and changed before forcing himself down to the common room. There was barely anyone in the room, Harry had no idea about the time it was but there was a dim sunlight creeping slightly across the ceiling showing that the sun was still low outside. Harry continued across the room towards the portrait hole.

'Harry! Where'd you go last night?' someone said from a chair to the left of him, he turned to face the girl with flame red hair sitting in the chair

'Oh, sorry Ginny, I got tired and decided to just go to bed. I forgot I told you I'd be back.' he told her

'No problem' she dismissed him, 'are you going to breakfast?' Harry nodded

'Can I join you? I was going to wait for Hermione to wake up but I'm getting hungry' Harry nodded again and she followed him out of the portrait hole.

'So Hermione's not up yet?' Harry asked 'she's usually first up and wide awake while Ron's still falling asleep in his breakfast' Ginny giggled

'Yeah well she had a late night.' Ginny told him 'I watched her work for hours on end Ron stopped quite soon after you left, which wasn't a surprise but Hermione was still working after I went to bed and that was at 1 am'

'What was she working on?' Harry asked

'No idea' Ginny told him thoughtfully, 'I never thought to ask'

'And you just sat there for hours watching her work?'

'We talked, just not about the work' Ginny corrected him

'Oh ok'

Soon they were in the great hall and Harry had woken himself up surprisingly by the time they had finished eating Hermione and Ron were still nowhere to be seen.

'Do you think we should go wake them?' Ginny asked concerned

'No' Harry told her 'Ron would be happier to be asleep and Hermione doesn't take long to get her stuff, they'll both be woken by the bell if they're not up before then'

'Okay' she shrugged 'so what do you want to do now? Or do you want me to disappear?'

'No, you're alright' Harry said 'want to go to see Hedwig?'

'Sure' Ginny Agreed 'Do you have a letter to send or something?'

'No, actually I don't. Maybe that was a bad idea then' Harry said slowly 'unless you wanted to write to someone? You were going to tell your dad that Ron wasn't doing muggle studies, weren't you?' Harry laughed.

'I have actually got a letter to send but I was going to wait for Errol to come back from wherever the twins sent him'

'Well you can use Hedwig, who knows where the twins have sent Errol' Harry suggested

'Ok' Ginny agreed 'thanks, I'll run up and get the letter' they got up from the table and walked to the bottom of the main staircase.

'I'll wait here' Harry told Ginny with a smile, she nodded and ran up the stairs. A minute or two later Hermione and Ron came down the stairs; Hermione was almost supporting Ron as he stumbled in tiredness.

'I thought I better wake him up' Hermione said to Harry as she passed with a grimace as Ron fell down the last step.

'He'll wake up after he's eaten something.' Harry told her 'why's he so tired?'

'No idea' Hermione said 'I don't think he slept well last night, but I don't know why'

Then she continued through to the great hall following Ron. Next to follow them down the stairs was the new girl, who didn't look remotely tired but pretended not to see Harry as she passed.

'Hi' Harry grabbed her attention. She reluctantly looked at him,

'Hi'

'How are you?' he asked

'I'm fine thanks' she said, she looked ready to walk away again

'Then why do you look like you want to run away from me?' Harry asked hanging onto conversation as some more people walked past.

'I don't want to run away from you' she told him sternly 'I want to walk away to find my breakfast' Harry laughed 'anyway, why do you want to talk to me so bad every time I pass?'

'I don't, I just thought I'd be nice' Harry said dismissively

'Well don't be, I'll talk to you when I feel like talking'

'yeah but that will be once in a term when we're put together for the fun of Snape while Harry-baiting in potions' She looked at him confused 'believe me you'll notice the hate between us soon'

'Ok, well I'll see you later' she said slowly and wondered towards the great hall. Harry looked up at the staircase again to see if Ginny had come back yet, she was standing at the top of the first flight of stairs and as he spotted her she came down to meet him.

'I thought I'd give you two some space' she said 'but I don't see why you try so hard with her still'

'Give me a break Gin, okay?' he said exasperated, she gave him an amused smile 'I just want to know something about her.'

'Yeah but why?' she asked, Harry shrugged and Ginny laughed

'Got the letter?' he asked

'Yeah' she replied, 'are you sure I can borrow Hedwig?'

'Sure' he said 'I never have anyone to write to, it's good for Hedwig to get some exercise' he winked at her and she laughed again, this time sounding slightly more girly. Together they began walking towards the owlery, Harry found Ginny a lot easier to talk to than no-name

'Flying really is the best lesson here though' Ginny said, almost at the owlery by this point. Harry of course agreed. 'I don't know whether to be bored of Hogwarts as a whole or amazed though' she told him.

'What? How can you find Hogwarts boring?' Harry asked shocked and slightly amused as if she was telling a joke

'It's all the same as home, the magic is just magic to me, and I've grown up around it. The only difference is when you begin to get bored of Hogwarts it throws a quick, sharp surprise at you when you turn the next corner. The burrow doesn't do that, you just see Ron stuffing his face' Harry laughed

'Well that's not too different than Hogwarts, but I see your point. If I had to say one thing about Hogwarts though is that there is always more to find out about.'

'Yeah?' Ginny questioned

'Yeah. Like did you know about 20 feet under the school there are a link of rooms which the only entrance to that I know of is a trapdoor guarded by a huge three-headed dog called-'

'Fluffy, which Hagrid owns right?' Ginny interrupted

'Yeah, Ron told you about that, huh?' Harry asked slightly disappointed

'Told me about it? He hasn't stopped going on about it all summer' Ginny looked exasperatedly at Harry who smiled. They entered the owlery and ducked as a few owls swooped over their heads into perches. Harry and Ginny looked around at the perches and spotted Hedwig on one of the highest rows. They climbed the stairs together and Harry woke Hedwig.

'Hey girl' Harry spoke to her 'feel up to a delivery?' Hedwig hooted, behind Harry Ginny held back a laugh, but let herself grin at Harry's back, she made it disappear into an approving smile as Harry turned around for the letter, she passed it to him and broke back into a grin as he turned back to face Hedwig on the table in the middle of the room. Harry tied the letter to Hedwig's leg

'This is to Mr and Mrs Weasley, okay? You've been there before' he threw Hedwig out of the window and turned back to Ginny.

'What time is it now?' he asked as if he had done the most ordinary thing in talking to the owl.

'Uhh…' Ginny let her second hand robe sleeve fall back over her arm to reveal a small pink watch '5 to 9, we better get back to the castle.'

They began walking and this time turned their attention to quidditch, after a while they began talking about Harry's dodge from the previous night.


	13. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 13

'No, Harry stop being modest- yeah you have a good broom I get it, but that was a great dodge' Ginny argued

'It was just because of the ni-' Harry argued back

'Nimbus, yeah you've said that. But Harry since you were the youngest seeker in a century, it's obvious that you're a good flyer. I'm just saying it's not all down to the broom, it's the rider that controls it'

'Yeah, yeah, I know what you mean but I don't think I'm really that good. You can play against me if you like, see what you think.' Ginny smiled

'I might have to take you up on that offer one day' Ginny grinned at him

'Great' Harry smiled back at her 'have you got any of those extra classes today?'

'Yeah I'm going to keep Hermione Company in ancient runes after school' Ginny told him

'Cool' Harry told her in reply 'hope you don't expect me or Ron to join you again though'

'I don't' Ginny said, but looking slightly disappointed. They reached the castle and split to their own directions for their lessons.

Harry headed for Defence against the dark arts only to find Hermione standing alone, away from the rest of the class outside the room.

'Where's Ron?' Harry asked

'He's in the hospital wing' she mumbled 'he passed out at Breakfast, I guess it wasn't just a late night he had, he's been given a sleeping draft by someone, and a really strong one according to Madame Pomfrey'

'But why would anyone want to do that?' Harry asked confused, Hermione shrugged

'Maybe it was never even meant for him' Hermione mumbled, Harry noticed her eyes were dampening but she blinked them back and turned away. The door to the class room opened and a middle aged, raggedly dressed teacher leant his hand against the door frame holding the door open from the opposite side of the door frame.

'All aboard' Professor Lupin said with a smile 'you can sit where you like but please choose a seat to stick to for at least the first few lessons so I can get to know all your names' the class went in and sat around the room mostly avoiding the front row. Hermione and Harry were last in and Hermione made Harry sit in the three seats that were spare at the front, she walked up to Professor Lupin and told him where Ron was quietly before sitting down beside Harry.

'Please don't get your books out, all you will need for this lesson is your wands' Lupin told them when they had all taken their seats. Harry looked around the room, he saw no-name sat alone in the far back corner of the room, behind Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson.

Ron hadn't returned by break time and Harry searched for Ginny while Hermione stayed with Ron, he soon found her and told her what had happened and they both visited Ron together.

'Hey mate, how you doing?' Harry said as he walked into the hospital wing but as he looked over to the bed where Ron was sat up just 5 minutes before (he had visited before looking for Ginny) he was now flat on his back, pale white and breathing deeply, Hermione was leaning over Ron's side crying, her face buried in his blankets.

'Hermione what happened?' Ginny said shocked at the view and running to Hermione's side, she threw herself onto her knees not even flinching as they hit the hard stone floor.

'H-he-he s-said' Hermione stammered between gulps of air 'h-he-he b-blamed m-m-me a-and we h-had an ar-argument an-an-and h-he passed out-t-t ag-ga-ain'

'WHAT?' Ginny shouted 'HOW COULD HE?'

'I was t-t-telling him w-what ha-happened' Hermione cried again, this time straight into Ron's blankets.

'And what DID happen?' Ginny asked confused, but Hermione burst into another stream of tears and ran out of the dormitory. 'What was that about?' Ginny asked turning to Harry, still standing a bit back.

'I don't know' Harry said, shrugging and joining Ginny at the bedside, Ginny sat on the stool where Hermione had been sitting

'look she's absolutely soaked through his blankets, she's really upset about something' Harry looked at Ginny as she watched her sleeping brother, she showed no feeling to the situation but Harry saw her lips twitch slightly downwards.

'Are you okay Ginny?' he asked, kneeling slowly down to her eye level. She looked at him and he stared into her eyes, wishing he knew how to perform legilimency. She nodded

'Yeah' she said slowly, smiling slightly 'I want to know what's happened though' she paused 'I should go see how Hermione is' she added quickly.

'I'll go' Harry said 'you can stay here, look after Ron, talk to Madame Pomfrey and see what you can find out, okay? And it's okay to be worried, Gin' just then Ginny threw her arms around Harry, he hugged her back and as she pulled away he left to find Hermione.

He found Hermione sitting against a wall with her knees pulled up to her face two floors above the hospital wing, in a deserted corridor. As Harry rounded the corner he heard muffled sobs coming from Hermione and silently walked up to her and sat beside her, leaning against the wall. He never said anything but Hermione stopped crying and moments later spoke to her knees.

'Has he woken up yet?' she asked

'Not before I left, but Ginny's with him' Harry told her looking at the tapestry opposite them 'she's a bit confused though. Well she's not the only one' Harry shot a sideward glance at Hermione who never moved. 'Maybe you could help shed some light on the subject?' this time Harry looked at her properly, she obviously felt him looking at her and she looked up at him, her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet.

'I'm not even sure about any of it at the moment Harry' she said timidly

'Well you seem to be blaming yourself' Harry said 'that has to be based on something… am I right?' it was Hermione's turn to stare at the tapestry opposite. Not really seeing it but staring at it as she saw something invisible on it, she nodded but never connected her glance with Harry again, he stared back at the tapestry too but out of the corner of his eye he saw Hermione brush a tear off her cheek with her thumb.

'So what is it based on?' Harry asked 'if you don't mind me asking.'

'I just have this horrible feeling that it was meant for me, to get me out of the way of something… or someone. Ron thinks so too' Hermione burst into tears again and hid her head in her arms on her knees again. Her hair fell covering the rest of her face from Harry's view. He reached across and put a hand on her far shoulder pulling her closer to him. They said nothing more about Ron for about half an hour when someone else rounded the corner into the hallway. At first neither Harry or Hermione noticed them, Harry had become content with staring at the tapestry on the opposite wall until he was in a meditative state and Hermione was still crying into his shoulder. Then the person cleared their throat and both Harry and Hermione's attention was stolen, they looked up at the tall figure standing in the light

'Professor Dumbledore' Harry said, not knowing how to continue and unable to stand as Hermione's head was still placed upon his shoulder.

'I believe Professor Snape is missing a few students from his lesson' he urged them, Harry flashed a look at his watch and the two of them leaped up, they were a whole quarter of an hour late.

'but before you go' Dumbledore stopped them 'I have given Miss Weasley permission to miss her lesson due to her being an unsuitable state for learning, she is downstairs with her brother who, I feel the need to update you, is conscious once more. Clearly miss granger, you are in the same state as Miss Weasley, and Harry you have done a good job here, you may both go to visit Mr Weasley and get your things together before attending your lesson. I will inform Professor Snape'


	14. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 14

Clearly miss granger, you are in the same state as Miss Weasley, and Harry you have done a good job here, you may both go to visit Mr Weasley and get your things together before attending your lesson. I will inform Professor Snape' Professor Dumbledore walked away towards the dungeons. Harry looked at Hermione's red face which now seemed to be filled with anticipation and they both walked quickly to visit Ron.

'Nice sleep Ron?' Harry joked as he entered the hospital wing again. Ron smiled at him but never answered, and then he let his eyes stray to Hermione. Harry looked at Ginny who looked as if she'd been crying as much as Hermione.

'Ron, I'm so sorry' Hermione burst out as she ran to his side and sat on the side of his bed, he seemed to consider it for a while and finally settled on the words:

'Its okay' he never seemed to have changed his mind about it being her fault, so she tearfully slipped off the edge of the bed and stood up again.

Everyone stayed silent for another few minutes unwilling to break the tension.

'Sorry mate, but Dumbledore's said we have to go to potions. So we better go' Harry eventually said. Hermione picked her stuff up from beside Ginny where she had left it and walked over to the door as Harry picked up his bag too

'Are you okay?' he whispered to Ginny quickly, she nodded

'I'm fine thanks, Harry' she said 'you'd better go.' And with that Hermione and Harry made their way to the dungeons.

As they reached the door Hermione stepped back to let Harry go in first, he knocked and pushed open the door.

'Sorry we're late sir' Hermione said stepping in behind Harry, they both took their usual seats and began to unpack their things as Snape swished over.

'Don't bother getting out your things, you haven't got enough time to make this potion today, you will be the test subjects and you will catch up tomorrow at lunch. Granger, help Longbottom as usual he's making himself look like a fool' Neville squeaked sadly from nearby 'Potter, you can watch Draco Malfoy to learn how to make the potion when your turn comes.' Harry groaned as Snape walked away and looked around the room at everyone working to see where Draco was, as he looked around he saw no-name look up at him, she smiled slightly and looked at the ingredients on the board. Harry looked at the board too. 'Shrinking potion', great, the idea that Snape will be able to crush him in the palm of his hand wasn't an appetising one.

The end of the lesson came far too soon for Harry,

'You're potions should now be done' Snape said from the front. Harry, sat beside Draco looked at the many potions around the room, some were bubbling and frothing in all the colours of the rainbow, there were a couple potions that were a mouldy green colour but the majority of the classes potions were dark brown and didn't look remotely appealing to Harry's taste buds.

'Dear, dear, these do not look good' Snape said sneeringly 'Potter! Granger! To the front! Lets hope they wont poison these two too badly' Snape looked fiendishly at Harry who could do nothing but gulp. 'I have the antidote to the correct potion here' Snape continued flicking a small bottle that didn't seem it would be enough to force even one of them to their original size let alone them both. 'Any other potions will be failed without question. Please bring forward your samples.' Everyone brought forward small scoops of their potions, luckily Snape turned away the most dangerous looking ones without testing them, however the first one accepted for testing was pansy Parkinson's potion. Snape decided that it was to be tested on Harry, he shot a look at the sample, it was darker than all the others in the class and was close to black.

'Potter I suggest you sit on the desk before drinking it unless you'd like to be running around the floor as a little person' Snape said sounding strangely as if he would love it if Harry was 'running around the floor as a little person'. Harry sat on the desk and reluctantly downed the potion. It tasted like mud water mixed with pure chilli peppers and it was fire hot in his mouth. He refused to let Snape see that it was painful but he blinked and as he reopened his eyes he saw a Giant Snape towering above him. Snape lowered his face down towards Harry and looked at him, he tried to poke him but Harry backed away.

'Well potter's not been harmed but a bit too strong Miss Parkinson. A-' he said pleasurably, Pansy grinned and walked out of the way and Draco stepped forward he handed over his potion which Snape gave to a fearful looking Hermione and they both moved closer as she shrunk painfully on to the desk beside Harry. Draco laughed and went to put his hand on the table, Harry jumped towards Hermione knocking her backwards and out of the way, Draco's hand met the table seconds later, Harry and Hermione were lying beside each other between his fingers as Draco lowered his head to look at the tiny scared people. The rest of the potions were roughly right after that and by the end of the tests Harry and Hermione were both only as small as the head of a needle. Snape lowered his huge nose down to them once more and splashed a drop of antidote in front of Harry and Hermione who drank some and returned to the size of a mouse, Snape gave them both a bit more of the antidote and as they grew to their original sizes again, they had been so close that Hermione ended up sitting upon Harry's lap on the desk surface.

'Off the desk' Snape said coolly 'I will see you both for detention tomorrow lunchtime, along with Mr Weasley if he is well enough to attend' Hermione, blushing maroon jumped off of Harry's lap and they both collected their things in silence and left the room for Herbology.

'Are you still going to ancient runes at lunch?' Harry asked

'That's after school.' Hermione corrected him.

'Well are you going then?'

'I don't know yet.' Hermione mumbled as they reached the greenhouses.

'Hi guys, where's Ron?' Neville asked, I expected him to come into potions late with you two, but he's not been around all day.

'He's' Harry paused 'ill' Hermione looked away from them both and Harry had the feeling that her eyes were welling up again. Neville looked at the back of Hermione's head and back to Harry, he nodded in acknowledgement of how it's hurting her and left.

After Herbology Hermione was eager to visit Ron again, no matter how he treated her or what he said. They quickly made their way to the hospital wing and ran inside.

'No running inside!' Madame Pomfrey scolded them firmly as they entered, they looked over to Ron but he wasn't there.

'W-w-where's Ron?' Hermione stammered fearing the worse

'He was discharged ten minutes ago' she said sternly, 'he's probably getting some healthy lunch by now'

'Yeah… healthy… lunch' Harry said slowly 'thanks' Hermione and Harry then backed out of the room. As they turned to walk to the hall somebody approached behind them

'Hi, what are you still doing out here?' Ginny asked worried.

'Ron's been discharged' Harry said smiling at her. Ginny grinned, a full happy grin and laughed, she actually laughed as if she hadn't laughed in years, as if she had been longing for an opportunity to laugh and as if it was the funniest thing in this world and the next. Then her laugh like wildfire caught Harry's throat and warmed his body, and he laughed too. Soon they were all three in mad hysterics.

No more than two minutes after they were letting tears run down their faces from laughing, someone else came into the corridor.

'What's so funny?' he said 'I've been looking for you granger.' Harry, Hermione and Ginny stopped laughing to look at the person standing in the hallway and blinked the water out of their eyes as a figure appeared. As Hermione's eyes cleared she saw a medium sized male figure come into view, stepping towards her. She blinked a few more times, and she knew who it was.


	15. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 15

He had a green robe and white blonde hair, Draco Malfoy, was standing ahead of her, now metres away and getting closer.

'What do you want Malfoy?' she said

'I need to talk to you' he told her

'Then talk' Ginny spat at him

'How dare you talk to me you blood traitor!' he said turning to Ginny. 'Granger, come with me'

'No' Hermione said standing her ground 'if you want to talk to me you can talk to me here!'

'You don't want these two hearing what I have to say, believe me' he said, almost sincerely. She raised her head and stood a little straighter but she nodded at Draco and followed him away.

'HERMIONE!' Harry and Ginny called after her shocked 'what are you doing? Where are you going? You can't leave with him!'

'What on earth has gotten into her?' Ginny asked Harry sounding winded.

'Come on' Harry whispered and they followed Hermione's and Draco's footsteps.

x.X.x With Hermione and Draco x.X.x

Draco opened a door for Hermione and she stepped into the room, looking around she saw no other exits and decided to stay close to the door.

'Obfirmo, confuto' Draco mumbled pointing his wand at the door.

'What are you doing?' Hermione asked

'Locking the door, and making it so that no-one can hear us.' Draco told her

'What? Why?' Hermione said backing away from him

'I'm not going to touch you' he said laughing 'but if you didn't want your two friends listening, why would you want anyone else listening?'

'So what do you want to talk to me about Malfoy?' Hermione asked completely concerned

'Call me Draco' he said patronisingly

'No thanks' Hermione told him flatly

'Fine. Look Granger I know who gave Weasel that sleeping draft'

'You do?' she asked

'Yeah and I was going to tell you' he told her

'Why would you do that?' she asked

'Because I wanted to help' Draco said, Hermione gave him a questioning look 'and I don't particularly like the person myself'

'Who is it?' Hermione asked again.

'What's in it for me?' Draco smirked

'Forget it' Hermione sneered

'I'm just joking mudblood' Draco laughed.

'Call me that again' Hermione said regaining her nerve and pulling her wand out and pointing it at Draco. He straightened his face and stared at her as if he pitied her.

'Look Granger, do you know what this is?' he pulled a tiny bottle out of his pocket and threw it to her; she caught it and opened it. She looked at it and smelt it.

'Veritaserum' she said slowly

'deemed to force a subject to tell the whole truth, 3 drops won't even let you resist answering' Draco said 'I'm going to take 2 drops, then you can trust me when I tell you who gave him the potion.'

'But why do you want to?' Hermione asked,

'I've already told you that'

'Fine. And how do I know that this isn't fake Veritaserum?' Hermione challenged him

'Well if you want to go down that road, you can take some yourself' Draco suggested 'I'll ask you a question and we'll know'

'I don't think so' she said, he shrugged

'Your choice' He reached forward to her and grabbed the veritaserum from her hand. He held it above his mouth and shook a couple of drops into his mouth and made a disgusted face as the second skimmed his lips, it was about twice the size of the first drop.

'Does it taste bad?' Hermione asked interested

'Gross' he said

'I don't get why you're being nice to me still.' she said

'I've told you the truth' he told her, she looked at him

'Fine, so who do you think is behind the poison?' Hermione asked

'I have poison in my bag' he said, and flinched as he gave away too much.

'I thought you were able to resist answering with only two drops?' she asked

'You can.' Draco agreed 'but that second drop was worth two' he flinched again

'What do you think of me really?' Hermione laughed

'You're a know it all and a mudblood, but you're quite pretty. I don't want to ever do anything with you though, except sometimes I want to be your friend but your friends are too protective of you' he admitted quickly, Hermione was completely shocked and decided to stop messing around.

'Who gave Ron the sleeping draft?' Hermione asked

'The new girl' Draco said. Hermione's eyes filled with hate and tears

'When?' she asked

'When he was sleeping'

'Then how do you know?' she questioned

'I read her diary, it was in her bag'

'Why did she do it?'

'It didn't say' Hermione looked at the floor

'Was it meant for Ron?' She asked

'No' Draco said

'Who was it meant for?' she said looking back up at Draco

'You' Draco said, Hermione knew it. She broke down on the floor crying, she fell directly on her knees but as they crashed on the floor she moved them from beneath her and in the darkness of the unlit room she hit her head on a table and felt faint, but it dawned on her that she had no idea where she was and no idea how long she'd been there. She pulled herself together and listened to the darkness. She had a feeling someone else was in here too. She never heard anything except Draco's breathing, it was exceptionally fast.

'Draco?' Hermione called to where she had seen him stand moments before, she could no longer see him because it was so dark and he was enveloped in the darkness.

'Yeah?' he asked stepping forward so that she could see him again. The whites of his eyes stood out in the dark but as he spoke there seemed to be more breathing, and that's when it struck her, there was someone else in the room.

'Where are we?' she asked

'I'm not sure' he said

'Turn on the light Draco, please' she said, she heard something move at the other side of the room. She tried to stand up but in her concussion her ankle twisted over and she just landed sprayed over the floor again.

'Lumos' Draco muttered, his wand lit up as he found a single torch on the wall and lit it and some others close by with a flick of his wand.

Hermione looked towards the opposite side of the room, it could've been worse.

'Professor Lupin' she said embarrassed and shocked, he had obviously come out from his office since he was still on top of the stairs, he must've heard them talking and so never lit the torches.

'Isn't that like illegal to listen to our conversations?' Draco asked with his attitude back.

'Not when you have been locked in and have had no choice but is stealing not illegal Draco?' he asked

'Yes, it is' Draco admitted under the veritaserum's power

'Where did you get this?' Lupin asked taking the potion from Draco's hand

'Snape's personal stores' he admitted shamelessly.

'So it is in fact real veritaserum?' Lupin questioned him again

'Yes.' Draco said again

'Clearly' Lupin muttered '10 points from Slytherin for stealing, I'll pretend I haven't heard what I've heard until I've spoken to professor Dumbledore', he turned to Hermione 'are you okay, Miss Granger?' Hermione was breathless from her head smashing on the table for the second time so she just shook her head and was surprised to feel tears prick her eyes again. Professor Lupin sighed and walked over to her

'How have you hurt yourself?' he asked, Hermione blinked the tears back and took a gulp of air,

'I think I've twisted my ankle, and I've hit my head twice now, I'm really light-headed' she told him quietly and running out of breath quickly.

'Okay, we'll get you up to Madame Pomfrey in a moment' he reassured her but first he turned to Draco 'Mr Malfoy I will need to talk to professor Dumbledore about this, and you should go and give this back to professor Snape immediately and no arguments over any punishments he gives you. I will know if you do not hand it back.' Draco nodded 'alohomora' Lupin added pointing his wand at the door, it swung open and Harry and Ginny were revealed sitting outside but only Hermione had noticed them so far.


	16. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 16

'Okay Draco, you do that and I'll help Hermione upstairs' Professor Lupin continued, there was a squeak outside the door and Ginny came running into view of Professor Lupin too, followed by Harry,

'What happened Hermione?' she said

'I'm fine Ginny' Hermione said woozily

'Do you want a hand sir?' Harry offered

'Oh, that would be great thank you Harry; you can help me get Hermione to the hospital wing. 5 points to Gryffindor'

Harry and Professor Lupin helped Hermione to her feet and they walked her to the hospital wing with Ginny tagging along behind them. When they reached the dormitory Professor Lupin sat Hermione on a bed and went to talk to Madame Pomfrey.

'Okay, yes, that won't be a problem.' Madame Pomfrey said to Lupin as they walked back over to Hermione. Madame Pomfrey fussed about feeling Hermione's head and the bump on the back and finally nodded 'put your ankle on the bed and you'll be ready to leave in about 5 minutes' she said, 'I'll just need to give you a medicine for your head too.'

'Well it looks like you're all okay here, now' Professor Lupin said 'I must go to talk to Professor Dumbledore, feel better soon Hermione.' and with that he left the room.

As Madame Pomfrey had said Hermione was out of the hospital wing in five minutes which left them all 20 minutes to have lunch and find Ron but Ginny had plenty to say to Hermione.

'Did he do that to you Hermione? I can't believe you just walked off with him like that, what good did you think would come of it? Did he put a spell on the door so we couldn't hear? Because we never heard anything, we had no idea that you were hurt, we had no idea that Professor Lupin was in there too. We were keeping an eye open for him to come back from somewhere.' she said, talking quickly

'Draco never done this to me, Ginny. I did it. And good did come from it, I found out who gave Ron the sleeping draft and I know it was meant for me, not him. Yes he did put a spell on the door, but nothing bad was going on, and I never knew professor Lupin was there until the last few minutes either'

'You never knew either? How did you not know? And who did it to him? Did you find out why? And why would they want to do it to you too? And how did Malfoy know all of this? And do you really think you can trust Malfoy with information like this? He might have just been lying, if not he's probably spread it everywhere by now. And what did he have to do afterwards?'

'Ginny! Be quiet! My head still hurts. I'll explain it all later, after ancient runes.' Hermione said loudly 'we still need to find Ron and eat lunch.' Ginny looked hurt but stopped asking her questions.

'They're probably both in the same place anyway' Harry joked but they all knew he was probably right. They all walked into the great hall, but Ron wasn't there.

'Do you think we should take food with us?' Hermione suggested

'Good idea' Harry agreed. They all picked up some food from the Gryffindor table and went outside.

'Where do you think he is?' Harry asked the girls

'He could be in the quidditch pitch' Hermione suggested 'or by the lake. He's probably with the twins, wherever he is, when you two fall out, he hangs around with the twins'

'So follow the fireworks then?' Harry suggested pointing to the low dim lights flashing in a crowd a while off. They all walked over and saw the twins throwing a firework between the two of them. There was a big crowd watching including

'RON!' Hermione screamed as she spotted him, she ran over and threw her arms around him

'Geroff me!' Ron mumbled into her shoulder pushing her away. Hermione backed off looking hurt. Ginny and Harry walked over and Ginny smiled at Ron, who returned it gratefully.

'Where've you guys been all lunch?' Ron asked

'Long story' Harry said, 'but I'm hungry, want to come watch us eat by the lake?'

'Sure' Ron smiled.

They all walked over and sat by the lake, Ginny sat between Harry and Ron, while Hermione separated herself from Ron by sitting beside Harry.

'So when do I get to hear this long story?' Ron asked

'After school apparently, at like 5' Harry told him

'Why then?' Ron asked

'Because Hermione needs to tell me and Ginny what happened, we've been a bit separated this lunch.'

'Oh, then it wont be that interesting' Ron said.

'Not for me and Ginny' Harry shrugged 'but Hermione was with Malfoy, and she's started calling him Draco'

Ron wasn't listening

'Dude, have you shrunk?' he said loudly 'I didn't think you could get any smaller.'

'Oh, um, I thought Snape had returned us to our usual sizes at least, I was hoping to be bigger than I used to be to be honest.' Harry said

'What?' Ron asked confused

'because we were too late for potions to make our own shrinking potions we had to be the test subjects' Harry said simply, 'Malfoy tried to crush us, and I was quite frankly surprised Snape gave us any antidote.' Ron laughed and both boys, shocked about the amount of quiet behind them turned to face the girls, neither of which were talking, they were both staring out over the lake and picking at their food.

'What's wrong with them?' Ron asked, Harry shrugged

'Girl stuff?' he suggested. Both Hermione and Ginny hit him 'great now I'm being attacked from all angles.' he joked; as he looked around at Hermione again he spotted something over her shoulder. No-name had her shoes off and her toes were paddling in the cool water, her hair was swirling away from her back as the wind pushed it and she was smiling.

Harry had never seen her smile like it before and was amazed that she was smiling when she was totally alone. It was the sort of smile that seemed to hide something behind it.

'I wish you'd stop watching her' Ron complained, 'it's just plain awkward when you do that'

Harry looked at Hermione who was back to staring across the lake, and turned back to Ron and Ginny, Ginny had her knees tucked up around her neck but was also staring directly ahead into the water, she however had gone off of her food and had her hair covering most of her face from Harry's view. Ron just looked at the two girls and sighed.

'I hope it's not going to be like this all year' he muttered and then there was a murderous silence hanging between the four of them until the end of lunch.

The bell rang and the girls were up like cannon shots before barely anyone else on the field had even recognised the bell, Ginny ran off towards the quidditch pitch for flying lessons while Harry and Ron grabbed their things and headed in silence with Hermione towards charms again. Half way up the lawn someone grabbed Ron's bag, Ron turned and threw the person off, but without saying anything he just turned back around.

The Weasley twins caught up on either side of the trio

'Who died?' George asked from beside Ron

'You will if you grab my bag again.' Ron murmured, the girls' bad moods had spread to Ron and Harry too.

'The atmosphere is so tense between you three it could cut the knife.' Fred added from beside Hermione 'come on George, lets go, it looks contagious' and with that they left the three of them in silence again. In charms Ron decided that Harry and him should sit beside Harry's new friend, no-name and dragged him over to sit with her, Hermione however felt completely unwelcome and looking as if she wanted to cry again sat beside Padma Patil.


	17. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 17

'Ron, why are you so determined to drive Hermione away?' Harry asked as they sat down 'Sorry, Ron's forcing me to sit here' Harry added to no-name who done nothing but shrug.

'Harry it's completely her fault what happened this morning.' Ron told him

'How could it be her fault, unless Hermione had put it in the drink herself and she's too distraught to have done that' No-name became restless beside Harry and began fiddling with her wand and quills.

'She's told me that she's responsible for it Harry!' Ron told him

'She guessed at it Ron' Harry muttered forgetting what Hermione had said about it being for her at lunch.

'Whatever' Ron said stingingly

Ten minutes later they were practising another charm that both Ron and Harry were useless at but could see Hermione performing perfectly on the opposite side of the room. The atmosphere was even tenser sitting with no-name than it was with the girls at lunch time because had they had anything to say they felt they could say anything in front of the other two, but no-name didn't like Ron at the best of times, even without his bad temper.

'So who's your favourite Chudley Canons player?' Harry asked no-name hoping to strike a similarity between her and Ron.

'Uh, probably Flow Hyptonette' she admitted making a quill soar towards her (she and Hermione were practising different charms to everyone else in the class because they had mastered the other one.)

'No way!' Ron said 'how could she ever be the best?' Harry had done exactly what he wanted 'Haroldun Neptunity is so much better than Hyponette'

'No chance!' no-name said quietly 'have you not seen flow's dodges?'

'They're nothing on Neptunity's! Anyway he can dodge and pass at the same time, when Hyponette tried that she went soaring into the hoops herself and passed the quaffle to the other side!'

'the one time that happened was when she had just gotten hit by a bludger.' no-name argued quietly 'she's made plenty of superb upside down passes in her time.' great, now Harry was lost.

'Oh yeah?' Ron challenged 'name one match when she's done more than one pass on a dodge successfully'

'Name one match that Neptunity has ever scored more than once'

'It's a team sport; he's not supposed to take all the shots. You just like Hyponette because she's the only girl'

'I do not! And it's the same for passing.' no-name said 'Hyponette has scored loads more than Neptunity'

'Like you know that for sure!' Ron argued.

'Actually I have the book of records for the Chudley Canons, update to last month.' she argued talking as if she was better than Ron 'and Hyponette holds the record for the highest number of goals in one game.'

'Fine but I bet she's not top at anything else'

'It says she's the only one who has managed the upside-down-left-hand-twist-and-sidekick-punch-double-rebound goal before.'

'That's another name for a completely pot luck goal' Ron argued

'Well the most Neptunity has ever accomplished is the twist-spin-upside-down-kick-feint goal and that's one of the easiest moves there is.'

'I bet you've never been able to do it' Ron said

'Actually, it's my specialty' no-name said proudly 'have YOU ever done it?'

'I play keeper' Ron said defensively

'Then why is your favourite player a chaser? Ibolune is the best keeper the canons ever had' no-name asked

'Yeah he is, but he's just a new guy' Ron admitted 'I don't think he can keep it up to be honest' no-name sighed

'You're probably right' she admitted

'Isn't that spinning-teacup-down-up-feint-kick thing what you pulled the other night?' Harry interrupted

'You mean the twist-spin-upside-down-kick-feint Harry? If so then yes and I saw how impressed you were.' she admitted 'honestly you'd think that you'd never played quidditch before'

'Yeah he's a total rookie' Ron told her 'he got on the team before he had ever even heard of the game last year'

'Hey!' Harry said offended 'I didn't grow up in the wizarding world, okay? And you're not supposed to be turning against me now, five minutes ago the only thing you two wanted in common was that you've both talked to me'

'Hey no-name!' Ron chimed in ignoring Harry, and to his surprise she responded to it 'do you think I could borrow that book of yours?'

'Sure' she said, she looked back at the collection of things she had in front of her and decided to add another board rubber from the front. Ron grinned and both he and Harry also got back to their charms.

'Oh and guys' no-name said 'you are both so useless at that. It's zigzag and roll your wand, not zigzag and circle'

Not long later the bell rang for the end of the day and everybody filed out of the room, neither Harry nor Ron spotted Hermione but they assumed she was well on her way to ancient runes by the time they left the class room.

'See was she really that bad?' Harry asked Ron about no-name

'I can't believe she responded to no-name' Ron laughed. 'And did she really do that twist-spin-upside-down-kick-feint the other night?'

'Yeah' said Harry hoping he had the right move in mind, 'it was the most graceful feint I'd ever seen, I had no idea how she done it'

'Wow' Ron said awestruck

When they got back to the common room they were surprised to see Ginny sitting in the fireside seats.

'I thought you were going to ancient runes with Hermione?' Harry asked her

'She can make a friend of her own age' Ginny said sourly

'Uh, what's going on?' Ron asked

'Nothing' Ginny murmured. Harry looked around the common room and out of the window

'Oh I forgot I was going to visit Hagrid at lunch today!' Harry said

'Well why don't we go now, he can meet Ginny' Ron suggested

'I have seen him before you know' Ginny argued

'Well have you spoken to him?' Ron asked

'No'

'then your coming, get off your lazy ass' Ron said, Ginny gave in, she had obviously had enough of the fire, and she followed Harry and Ron to Hagrid's.

They knocked on the huge wooden door, Ginny between Harry and Ron. Minutes later Hagrid answered,

'Ah it's you three' he said after opening the door only enough to see Harry. 'Come in, have a seat'

They all went inside.

'Wait, where's 'ermione?' he asked

'Ancient runes lesson' Harry told him, sitting down

'This is my sister, Ginevra' Ron said pushing Ginny towards Hagrid.

'It's Ginny' she said firmly

'Hiya' he said friendlily putting his hand out to shake, Ginny took hold of one of his huge fingers and shook it before fleeing to sit beside Ron.

'Wan' somethin' to eat?' he offered

'no thanks Hagrid, we're not hungry' Harry answered quickly but Ginny not knowing any better took one of his homemade rock cakes and tried to take a big bite out of it straight away. She whimpered as one of her teeth broke just as Hagrid looked away and placed it down in front of her.

Harry gave her an apologetic look for not warning her but Ron sniggered into his sleeves or he did until she kicked him under the table.

'How's 'Ur first days at school bin then?' Hagrid asked Ginny

'Good' she said quickly 'I've been doing some of the extra lessons too'

'Tha's good, I expect you all to be at care o' magical creatures by the way' Hagrid said mainly talking to Harry and Ron

'We were planning to' Ron lied

'Yeah we'd never dream of missing it' Harry added, Ginny gave the boys an odd look but never said anything about it.

'Do you lot wanna see the pumpkins for Halloween?' Hagrid offered 'they're already thrivin', as big as cats already an' they on'y bin growing 'bout a week'

'Sure' Ginny said for a reason to get rid of the rock cake. As she hopped up and followed Hagrid and the boys outside she grabbed it, and as soon as she was out she threw it across the ground out of sight of the others.


	18. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 18

The pumpkins were as big as cats and they nearly missed the large tabby cat curled up beside them until Ginny noticed that the pumpkin was breathing.

When they were inside again they moved onto the topic of Ron's sleepy day.

'They must 'a given you the draft when you were sleepin' if you were like it when you got up' Hagrid suggested

'But giving a sleeping person a sleeping draft' Ginny said 'it just doesn't make sense'

'And that would mean it was a Gryffindor' Harry added, 'who would?'

'It could've been the twins' Ginny suggested 'for a practical joke'

'Even your brothers wouldn't 'a gone that far' Hagrid said 'they've learnt 'bout it by now, they have, they know how dangerous it can be'

'But who else would do it?' Ginny asked

'I dun' know 'bout tha' but your brothers sure wouldn'' Hagrid said sternly

'Hermione thinks she knows' Harry added into the conversation 'she thinks it should've been for her, but I don't see how it could've been since it's easy to tell the difference between Hermione and Ron when they're asleep. Not to mention they're in two totally different rooms on totally different staircases.'

'And Hermione and I were up really late too' Ginny said.

'Yeah' Harry agreed 'did you see anyone go up the boys' staircase?'

'No' Ginny said thoughtfully 'but I wasn't facing the staircases, Hermione was and she barely looked up'

'So it's likely it could've been a guy too?' Ron asked sounding confused

''s'pose so' Hagrid told him, Harry looked at his watch.

'Maybe we should go?' he said, 'I want to hear what Hermione thinks she knows.'

'Hermione doesn't know anything' Ginny burst out 'what could Malfoy know about this? He's a Slytherin! I can't even believe that she believes him! And to be honest Harry I can't believe you want to hear all of her rubbish!'

All three of them looked at Ginny shocked; she blushed furiously but never took back anything that she said.

'Ginny's not exactly getting along with Hermione at the moment' Ron informed Hagrid while everyone was still stunned.

'an' why's tha' then?' Hagrid asked snapping out of his stare

'No idea' Ron shrugged

'I really think I should go, if you two want to stay, then do what you want, but I for one, am still friends with Hermione.' Harry said getting up 'nice to see you Hagrid, bye'

Harry left, unaware of what was going on in the hut and marched up to Gryffindor common room alone. Hermione was already there.

x.X.x With Ginny, Ron and Hagrid x.X.x

'Wha's all tha' about then?' Hagrid asked Ron

'Oh umm nothing' Ron said quickly 'you know what I think I will go see Hermione, bye Hagrid. Are you coming Ginny?'

Ginny got up too said goodbye to Hagrid and they both left, they saw the doors to the school close and assumed Harry had just gone inside, they walked slowly so they didn't have to sit with Hermione too long when they got back to the common room.

'Why are you not getting along with Hermione?' Ron asked Ginny

'Its noth-' she began

'Don't give me "it's nothing", when it's "nothing" people don't burst out about a simple thing like back there' Ron told her

'Fine, I'm just fed up of her treating me like a little girl. If she's got a headache she can ask me properly to be quiet not yell at me to "shut up"' Ginny complained huffily 'she's always taking pity on me! Buying me things as if I'm deprived, hiding her money from me as if I don't own ANY…'

x.X.x with Harry and Hermione x.X.x

'Where's Ron and Ginny?' Hermione asked

'I don't know, I left them with Hagrid' Harry told her

'You went to see Hagrid without me?' Hermione asked

'I was going to go at lunch but I forgot and when I mentioned it to Ron he suggested we go straight away and told Ginny to come too'

'Oh' Hermione said 'well I guess I'll go see him tomorrow or something, I hope he doesn't think I chose not to go'

'He knows where you were' Harry informed her

'Yeah why didn't Ginny come like she was going to?' Hermione asked

'No idea, but she doesn't seem too fond of you right now' Hermione nodded in acknowledgement 'so anyway, I want to know what happened at lunch' Harry added sitting down. Just as he sat down the portrait hole opened again and Ginny and Ron came in. surprisingly they both came over and sat beside Harry.

'Where've you got too?' Ginny asked

'I was just about to start to explain' Hermione told her 'you're talking to me now?'

'Ron and I had a little chat; it was a stupid reason not to talk to you' Ginny admitted 'sorry Hermione'

'no problem' Hermione told her and she told them everything that happened at lunch time from going into the room, sparing some of the answers of the earlier questions she had asked Draco to when Harry and Ginny had burst in the room. Harry was most shocked at the idea of it being no-name but this time Ron was slightly taken aback by it too.

'But don't you think it was fake veritaserum?' Ginny asked as the boys sat stunned

'No' Hermione told her

'But why not?' Ginny said

'I asked him some other questions first that he told me the answers to, and they were things he definitely wouldn't have said without veritaserum, anyway he offered me to have some'

'He probably knew you'd say no, and he could've faked those answers.'

'He even told Lupin that he had stolen it though' Hermione argued.

'Well how else would he have gotten it to be honest Hermione?' Ginny pointed out

'His father?' Hermione suggested 'Borgin and Burkes in Knocturn Alley? He could've even made it himself'

'Yeah right' Ginny said 'anyway, we were up really late last night; we would've seen no-name pass if she had given it to him'

'She wasn't in bed when I went to bed' Hermione told her 'I've only seen her in her bed let alone sleeping on the first night here'

'Really?' Ginny asked puzzled

'Yeah, she might've been in the boys' dormitory the whole time. Or she might've done it after I went to bed'

'It CAN'T have been her!' Harry chimed in loudly

'Why not?' Ginny asked 'it seems like something she'd do'

'No it doesn't!' Harry argued 'you don't know her, she's actually quite nice'

'Not to the people she doesn't like' Hermione pointed out

'But she doesn't hate Ron' Harry told her 'she just, doesn't think he's particularly… I don't know, but she's lending him a book, and they were talkin-'

'Arguing' Ron interrupted 'in charms'

'Until they turned on me' Harry told the girls 'then they got on perfectly well' Hermione and Ginny laughed.

x.X.x At Breakfast x.X.x

Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Ron were all munching on their breakfast on time the next morning, absorbed in conversation. Once again they were on the topic of no-name, Harry and Ron hadn't got their heads around the sleeping draft being her doing, but Ginny was now on Hermione's side though not understanding how Draco would've known.

'Did you think to ask Malfoy how he knew?' Ginny whispered

'Of course I did' Hermione told her in whispers

'And what did he say?' Ginny challenged so quietly that Hermione could barely hear her beside her.

'He said he read her diary' Hermione told her 'it was in her bag'

'Why didn't you tell us?' Ron asked angrily but quietly, he had started talking to Hermione after she had told her story the night before 'if he was telling the truth, we can find out by reading her diary too'

'Ronald that's horrible!' Hermione said shocked

'What?' Ron said 'the twins read Ginny's diary all the time and Ginny never finds out'

'THEY WHAT?' Ginny shouted loudly, Hermione hushed her and Ginny added in a quieter voice 'well they wont be ever again'

'I told you she never knew' Ron mumbled

'That's not the point Ronald, she obviously has something she wants to hide with all this no-name nonsense, and a diary is private! It's not whether they find out; it's what you find out that's the problem'


	19. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 19

'Even more of a reason to look' Ron said gleefully 'to find out some things about her'

'Ronald you can't honestly be thinking of going through with this?' Hermione said shocked

'Don't you want to find out if it's true or not?' Ron asked

'Of course I do but still that's over the line!' Hermione complained

'Well this is the only way to find out, without stealing more veritaserum and giving it to her to find out the truth! And I think that would be over the line too' Ron argued

'I don't see the problem with it as long as we only read that bit' Harry said

'But you wont know how to find it without reading more' Hermione pointed out

'Not if there are dates' Ginny suggested

'Ginny how can you be going along with this after you just flipped out from Fred and George doing it to you?' Hermione asked astounded

'Hermione, I just want to find out. I thought you never liked her anyway? If it is her then you're going to want to know about it, plus whether or not she's going to try doing it to you' Ginny admitted

'I don't like her, but keep your enemies closer right?'

'And to keep her close you need to know something about her' Ron added smugly

'I can't believe I'm going along with this.' Hermione gave in 'fine, it's 3 against 1. But no looking at any other bits if u can help it, agreed?' the others agreed.

'Who's going to do it? And how?' Ginny asked

'I have an idea' Harry said looking up as Oliver Wood passed them 'one second' Harry got up and called to Oliver, who turned around as Harry caught up with him.

'I was just wondering' Harry began, he thought about how to put it 'I mean… the other night, that new-girl I was talking about did turn up in the end, and when I saw her flying it was just… wow. I really think you'll be interested in trying her out' Harry hinted 'do you think I could set up a time between you both? To let you see her fly? She has this special move which is the most graceful feint I've ever seen, you'll be really impressed'

'She's really that good?' Oliver asked

'Yeah' Harry said talking her up 'I couldn't even stop my jaw from dropping when she done it'

'Okay, see if she can meet up with me tonight at 6 on the pitch and I'll test her' Oliver agreed

'Great!' Harry said grinning 'thanks Oliver.' at that Wood joined some of his friends and left Harry to tell no-name. Harry looked up and down the Gryffindor table, he spotted no-name beside a box of Goosio's cereal and went over to join her.

'Hi' he began, she looked up at him (she had been reading a text book)

'Hi Harry' she said 'what's up?' Harry sat down opposite her and leant towards her a bit

'What are you doing tonight?' he asked

'Umm I have an extra lesson after school, until 5 ish' she said dismissing his plans

'well I've been talking to Oliver Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team' Harry began, no-name's attention rose 'he wants to try you out tonight, we haven't got any places available, but he wants to see what you're like for a substitute if we need one, we're quite bad for accidents in Gryffindor. Anyway I told him about your special move and he's really interested in it.'

'What time?' no-name asked

'At 6 on the pitch' Harry told her

'Okay. Thanks' she told him smiling slightly

'No problem' Harry said 'I'm going now, see you in lessons' Harry got up.

'Oh Harry' she stopped him 'can you give your friend this?' she closed the book she was reading and handed it to him, Harry read it:

"_The Chudley Canons Record Book._

_Every record, good and bad, including biographies of the players, photos and collectable quidditch move cards"_

'This is for Ron?' Harry asked

'Uhh… yeah, I think so. The ginger one who was sitting with us in charms?'

'Yeah that's Ron' Harry told her 'thanks' Harry went back to the others

'This is for you' Harry said to Ron putting the book in front of him

'Ah awesome!' Ron said gleefully pushing his _Goosio's cereal_ to the side and started to read the book.

'So what's going on then Harry?' Ginny asked

'well,' Harry began while turning away from Ron 'at 6 tonight she's going to meet up with Oliver on the quidditch pitch to see if she can be a substitute for the chasers on the team, she's going to the after school extra lesson again so hopefully she'll take her bag with her to quidditch. I was thinking I'd go to "give her some support" and look after her bag for her while she's flying and when she's busy to see if I can find it'

'Better you than me' Ginny admitted Harry looked at her with a look that said that he wasn't completely happy about it either. They were quiet just in time as Professor McGonagall came over to them,

'Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Miss Granger, I am very disappointed in you, detentions already, not even a week in' she complained handing out reminders to all of them.

'It's not really a detention professor' Harry said 'more of a catch-up session, we never done anything wrong'

'That may be Potter, but Professor Snape has filed them as detentions' McGonagall told him, Ron looked at his slip

'This is so unfair! I had been given a sleeping draft it's not my fault I missed the lesson!' he complained loudly

'It is important you stay up to date in all of your lessons Mr Weasley' McGonagall reminded him 'that is if you want to carry on at Hogwarts next year' Ron looked grumpily at the slip of paper in his hand picturing the detention.

The detention was as bad as expected, if not worse. Snape had demanded silence and because there wasn't a class of others around them they dared not and could not disobey him. They worked in silence and were told to take their own potions at the end to test them, Ron was violently sick all over Snape and was deducted points from Gryffindor, 30 for being sick on Snape and 20 for the 'dismal potion'. Harry managed to make one arm shrink and looked incredibly odd until given some antidote using his left hand and dropped it, he had 10 points deducted too but managed to get a 1 out of 10 score. Hermione managed to shrink perfectly but was still only rewarded 7 points out of 10; though they all knew that had she been Slytherin it would have been 10 out of 10 with extra house points.

All three of them were overjoyed when they were allowed to leave, of course and as soon as they left the classroom immediately started bursting out with conversation that they wouldn't usually have cared about. It was a feeling of being free and using their time to their fullest advantages. It was so spectacular it was like they were….. ASLEEP!:

'So what lesson is it tonight then, Hermione?' Ron asked

'Divination, are you comi-?'

'NO!' Harry and Ron told her together, she stopped dropping back a step or two to not be deathened

'Of course not' she mumbled and sped up to them again

'One of you could actually be good at it and you're just going to not even give it a chance' Hermione tempted

'I'm not good at anything' Ron said quickly

'You are Ronald' she said sternly

'I'm HAPPY not being good at anything… I think I'll leave it that way.'

'Well sorry to smash your dreams Ron, you are good at some things' she said pointedly 'why not gain another talent?'

'I don't feel like finding out how I'm going to die thanks' Ron told her, Harry laughed. 'Honestly Hermione, you don't even believe in it. You told me in a letter this summer, I still have it, PROOF!' Ron raised his arm up as if he was holding the letter and looking like a mad scientist

'No need to shout Ronald' Hermione complained, she paused 'you keep my letters?'

'Uh… no' Ron said quickly 'no, no, of course not.' Hermione gave him an odd look


	20. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 20

'Ok I do, but only because I keep all my letters, I use them for the fire, that way I don't have to collect wood.'

'But don't you use magic to light your fires?' Harry asked

'well you still need something to light if you want to keep it going without a difficult spell' Ron told him 'anyway having it on something like wood or paper makes it easier to control'

'So Harry! What's your excuse not to go tonight?' Hermione cut over Ron

'I'm not going because…' Harry paused 'I'm keeping Ron Company'

'Ron's a big boy Harry, he doesn't need you there.' Hermione laughed

'Yeah well I already know how I'm going to die' Harry told her

'You what?' Hermione asked stunned 'how?'

'I dun' no' Harry said 'I'll find a way'

'Oh ha-ha' Hermione said sarcastically

'Actually, I read the future last night' Ron admitted too

'Oh yeah Ronald?' Hermione said humouring them for a moment

'Yeah' Ron said 'someone came up to me and said "if you go to divination tonight, I'll kill you with the orbs on the back shelf" and no Hermione you cannot have my autograph' Harry laughed again

'I can't believe neither of you are going to give it a shot at least' Hermione told them shaking her head 'you might really enjoy yourselves'

'We'll give it a shot next year, when we have to choose lessons' Ron told her

'You can't give them all a shot next year' Hermione said

'I bet you she'll try it though' Ron mumbled to Harry

After school Harry and Ron headed back to the common room while Hermione went to transfiguration.

'This is actually going to be quite a quiet year, I think' Ron said 'with Hermione disappearing once a day, I mean it's now Thursday and she's disappeared everyday, minus Monday because we were in the feast'

'That's only three days a week' Harry said 'plus one of them was at lunchtime'

'That's still two and a quarter hours in a week, anyway she'll probably have a lesson running Monday's from next week too. Next thing you know she'll be doing lessons on the weekends'

'Well I won't be going to any of those for sure' Harry told him with a disgusted face

'Me neither' Ron said 'so, looking forward to reading no-names diary tonight?'

'No, not really' Harry said

'Huh?' Ron asked lost

'You asked if I was looking forward to it' Harry told him 'and the answer is no, not really'

'Seriously?' Ron asked 'I would be, you get to find out anything you want about her, how a girl's brain works'

'How does that not scare you?' Harry asked

'What? Finding out stuff about her?' Ron asked confused again

'no, finding out how a girl's brain works' Harry corrected him 'there's things that go through a women's mind that I don't think we should ever know about' Harry shook his head as if he was ridding it of a nightmare 'I might be mentally traumatised at the end of tonight'

'Yeah right' Ron said 'I bet you won't be able to resist reading more than agreed'

'I'll take that bet!' a familiar voice said from behind them, Harry and Ron turned around, Fred and George were stood behind them with Lee Jordan and some first year girl with honey brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

'How long have you been there?' Ron said shocked and going pale

'The whole time' George laughed

'Huh?' Ron said looking as if he was about to faint at the idea of the twins knowing their plan, all of them laughed

'What he means is we've been in here, the corridor, the whole time, since lessons ended' the little girl said, laughing still 'not following you'

'Who the hell is that?' Ron asked Fred who never responded, still in hysterics

'Kelly Ashcroft' she said sobering up 'I'm Lee's next door neighbour outside of Hogwarts'

'Okay, so who said they'd take my bet?' Ron asked

'Us' the Weasley twins said together also sobering up

'But you don't even know the bet?' Ron pointed out

'Honestly little bro, you just walked past us saying it, "I bet you won't be able to resist reading more than agreed" I have no idea what you agreed but I'll take that bet' Fred shrugged

'You're just THAT into bets?' Ron asked surprised

'S'pose so' Fred shrugged

'What odds?' Ron asked

'2 to 1, but only because we don't know all the information' George said

'And Harry has to be totally reliable and tell us himself if he does it or not' Fred added

'I think we should make him sign a contract so he has to tell the truth… or else' Kelly told them evilly, grinning with dazzling white teeth

'Do I get a say in this?' Harry asked

'Not any more' Ron told him 'what do you bet?'

'Uh… 20 knuts. Each.' Fred offered

'Okay' Ron agreed, the twins scribbled a contract on a piece of paper for Harry to sign. Harry read it quickly:

"_I Harry Potter agree to tell the complete truth when reporting back to Fred and George Weasley about the outcome of the bet. If I lie, I agree there will be very painful and visual results, which as I lie will appear and will be immediately noticed by the twins and they will claim their winnings. These results will be caused as long as I sign this contract which has a spell attached to it. I also confirm that I will not read on or stop especially for the outcome I want, for I acknowledge this will also show the painful and visual results that will cause the opposite team to win._

_Signed _"_

'"Painful and visual results" like what?' Harry asked

'Don't lie and you won't need to find out.' George told him, he waved his wand over the paper and tapped it, 'the contract is now attached to the spell, dare to sign?' Harry signed and looked at his name on the paper, sealing his fate:

"_Signed Harry Potter"_

'When do we get the results?' Lee asked

'Late tonight or tomorrow, hopefully, some things might go wrong though' Ron told them, he shook hands with his brothers sealing the deal.

x.X.x Later that night x.X.x

Harry headed down towards the quidditch pitch alone, as he arrived at the edge he walked in slightly so he could see the middle, Oliver Wood was standing there alone. Where was no-name? It was six o'clock already, she was late.

'Hey potter!' Wood called him, Harry went over to talk to him

'You never told me if she was coming or not, so I thought I'd wait to see, is she?'

'Yeah she's coming. Sorry Oliver' Harry said 'I forgot'

'Alright' he said, 'so why are you here?'

'To give her some support and generally to see what you think at the end of it' Harry said

'Fair enough, but you have to stay quiet in the stands so you don't put her off'

'of course' Harry agreed, Harry heard footsteps approaching quickly behind him, he turned around and saw no-name running into the stadium, red faced and hair a mess, under one arm her bag was swinging rapidly and in the opposite hand she held her broom.

'Sorry I'm late' she called over to Wood; 'I was in the library' she stopped at the side and looked up at the two in the middle.

'Harry what are you doing here?' she asked as he walked over to her

'To give you some support, plus I forgot to tell Oliver that you agreed' Harry told her, 'do you want me to look after your bag in the stands?'

'Okay thanks' she said handing it to him

'good luck' he added and quickly found a seat in the stands that was not only a good view of both ends of the pitch so he could pretend to watch well, but also out of the way enough to not be seen too easily, because they would be going too fast whenever they were level with him to notice him.

He pretended to watch for about 3 minutes before carefully unzipping no-name's bag, still looking up at the pitch and as soon as no-name was definitely unable to see him from the speed she was building up he looked down and grabbed the most unusual looking book from the bag, it didn't look anything like a school book, he put it on his lap and lifted his knees to put his feet on the back of the chair in front, which meant the book was hidden unless they flew straight down at him. It also meant that he could look at it while still looking as if he could be looking over his knees at the pitch;


	21. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 21

he opened the book steadily so they never noticed him turn the pages. There were dates; he flicked through the book but still slowly from the fear of being noticed. In his steadiness he caught a few words and phrases like 'friends', 'laughing', 'best days' and every word that didn't seem to describe the girl that he knew, there were even some boys names in the book, he hadn't read any of it properly just caught some words of it, he looked up to the date, 'August 31st', 'September 1st' Harry scanned the pages quickly, there was nothing about sleeping draft there though he saw his name mentioned, that was it, he couldn't resist anymore, with a surge of feeling of an impending doom he read the paragraph:

"_I met Harry Potter after dinner, worse luck ever; he has the worst of friends, one of the girls who laughed at me at Dinner and a complete idiot, who obviously thinks he's funny. But hey! The situation has some up-sides too_

_1) Harry's hotter than I imagined, sure I've only seen pictures of him as a baby but still_

_2) He gave me a chance, the famous wizard gave me a chance, even though his friends don't like me, could that mean anything?"_

Harry stopped reading, she thinks he's hot, she's wondering if he likes her, he definitely doesn't like her more than a friend, if that, and worst of all, the whole world has seen his baby pictures!

He flicked over the page and scanned it quickly, words stood out at him 'Harry', 'he tried to talk to me again', 'Pansy Parkinson', 'Hermione Granger', 'mudblood', 'muggle studies', 'chat rooms', 'Hermione', 'argument', 'Hermione', 'ignorant', 'Hermione'. Hermione was definitely starting to be mentioned more, but there was no mention of sleeping draft.

The next page, in the first sentence his name appeared and he read again, against his better judgement:

"_OMG Harry was in my dream last night! I can't believe this, I think I'm starting to like him, I keep trying to tell myself he doesn't like me, but I can't get over it, he keeps trying to talk to me. He makes it so damn hard! In my dream I had a plan, but I can barely remember it now. I gave that granger girl sleeping draft"_

Harry looked at the book shocked, no way! It could NOT really be her! He looked up at the pitch again, they were still playing and they weren't looking his way. He looked back down at the book:

"_in the dream it worked like a charm, she was out of our way for days, Harry's other mate was with his brother and sisters, I don't know why, but at least he was out of our way. I got to know Harry loads; maybe I should try this out for real?"_

Harry looked up again, damn he was starting to believe it. How could she be doing this to get to him? He saw no-name perform her graceful feint again, fooling even Oliver. And slowly turned the page in his lap.

"_I can't believe I actually went through with it, I had the sleeping draft ready but Granger went to bed too late for it to be effective, one friend is as good as another right? I gave it to the ginger boy. That would hopefully be one friend out of the way; I'll have to see if it takes effect fast enough for him not to wake up in the morning._

_4th September_

_Okay, it worked, but not for long enough. I so regret this now they sat next to me in charms this afternoon and the ginger boy is actually quite friendly, okay his jokes are still terrible, but hey! He knows his quidditch, Harry has his flaws I suppose he's a rookie like the boy said. At least Harry's friend is okay. I wish I had a chance to get to know Harry though, I never saw him almost all day. I should've known this would happen Harry Potter was friendly to me when I wasn't being at all friendly, of course he'd be at his friend's side all day if they had been given sleeping draft._

_I'll have to find another way to get to know him."_

Harry looked up again, Wood and no-name were landing. He shoved the book back into the bag and zipped it up; he made his way down to the pitch with it and gave it to her innocently as she was talking to Oliver. She left immediately after he was done talking.

'She's not bad' Oliver said to Harry as he grabbed his stuff and watched no-name leave

'I know' Harry said 'so what've you told her?'

'That we have our team but I'll definitely be looking for her if we need some help with chasers'

'Okay cool' Harry agreed, they started walking back to the common room and Harry let his mind wonder into the gap that the silence left.

All he could think of was the diary; he tried to pull his mind out of it, but with Wood not saying anything and with Harry having nothing to say it was close to impossible. Harry for certain couldn't do it. The words were fixed in his mind 'could that mean anything?', 'Harry was in my dream last night', 'I think I'm starting to like him', 'maybe I should try this out for real?', 'I can't believe I actually went through with it', 'I'll have to find another way to get to know him'. Harry didn't want to get to know her in the way she wanted to know him, but what could he do if he wanted to find out something about her by the end of the week?

Harry's mind wondered over it until he was in the common room again, he barely heard wood say bye to him but as Ron, Hermione and Ginny leapt on him it snapped him away from the thoughts, though they still swung in the back of his mind.

'What happened Harry?' Ginny asked quietly as they sat down again 'did she have her bag with her?' Harry nodded in a bit of a daze still from the thoughts spinning in his mind

'So did you read it?' Hermione asked anxious

'Did I win my bet?' Ron asked eagerly, Harry nodded again

'What bet Ronald?' Hermione asked him sternly

'Um… Tell us what it said Harry!' Ron changed the subject quickly, Hermione gave him a stern stare but encouraged Harry to speak

'Never read a girl's diary' Harry said decisively to Ron 'seriously' he added, Ron looked at him as if he was going mental, Ginny stifled a giggle.

'Okay Harry, what did you see in it?' Ginny asked amused, Harry shuddered at the thoughts but stayed quiet

'Okay, no more messing around guys, we agreed not to look at any more, and if Harry did shame on him, but he shouldn't tell us what he's seen. Harry, was Malfoy right? About any of it?'

'All of it' Harry said looking shocked at his own words, Ginny giggled again but Harry never heard it. Hermione sat back and stared into the flames of the fireplace surprisingly shocked. Ginny looked at Hermione and started talking to Harry, but he couldn't hear her. He just watched her lips move wordlessly.

'Harry I need you to pay proper attention!' Ginny said after a while, Harry heard her again and forced himself out of the trance again

'Did it say if she was going to try it again? On Hermione?' Ginny asked nervously

'It said she'd find another way to -' he stopped again and shuddered falling back into the trance

'TO WHAT!' Ginny shouted into his ear, that time it really worked

'She's not going to try it on Hermione, okay?' Harry whispered rubbing his ear and looking at the staring faces nearby 'she's going to try to find another way to do what she was trying to achieve' Hermione smiled again and sat forward more light-heartedly

'Harry, you look so ill' Ginny said now she was reassured, she felt his forehead like a mother would 'do you want to go to Madame Pomfrey?'

'No' Harry said, he got up and went up the boys staircase

'Ron go make sure, he's okay.' Ginny ordered, Ron went but not intending to check on Harry he went into their dormitory and closed the door behind him

'So I won the bet?' Ron confirmed Harry nodded. 'What did you find out?' he continued

'Something I should never have found out about' Harry said, completely out of his trance since Ginny shouted in his ear.


	22. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 22

'Like what?' Ron asked eagerly and amused 'wait, it wasn't something like girl's... um… Time of the month or anything was it?'

'No, it was about' Harry began, he paused 'dreams'

'Dreams?' Ron asked confused 'you're freaked out because of dreams?' they both were silent for several minutes 'were they hot dreams?' he asked

'No!' Harry said quickly 'this whole sleeping draft thing was because of one of her dreams' Harry admitted

'What is she mental or something?' Ron retorted 'she went along with something she dreamt up?'

'I suppose' Harry said only catching the last question

'That is so not the thing bothering you' Ron caught on, Harry, who was sat on his bed lifted his legs on too and laid down facing the ceiling

'Tell me!' Ron commanded

'Fine' Harry said, 'but don't tell the girls' Ron sat on his bed watching Harry closely, they never even noticed the door handle turn and the door swing open slightly

'She likes me-' Harry began; suddenly a squeak came from the door and they both sat bolt upright to see no-one there. Ron got up and ran to the door, he looked down the staircase, whoever it was wasn't there anymore he shut the door and sat back down on the bed

'It was probably just a mouse' Ron told him

'But you closed the door' Harry said

'It's a windy castle' Ron said 'maybe I never shut it right'

'How many ways are there to shut a door?' Harry asked

'I don't care' Ron said 'you never finished'

'fine,' he said lying back down to stare towards the ceiling again 'it said she liked me, and she was just trying to get Hermione out of the way to spend more time with me. In her dream you were avoiding me for some reason but Hermione was up too late to give her the sleeping draft, so she decided to try to keep you out of the way. When you spoke to her in charms the next day she regretted it, but she wasn't trying to hurt you, just let you sleep a while longer'

'A while?' Ron asked amused again

'just a couple of days' Harry told him 'it didn't work properly because she gave it to u too late I guess, it just kept you asleep for longer'

'If she had given Hermione that, she'd be dead right now for making Hermione miss lessons' Ron laughed. Harry smiled, He felt a lot better since he had told Ron but the squeak was still bothering him, it didn't sound like a mouse to him, someone had heard him.

Something rustled outside and a knock came on the door, then it opened slowly and a small girl entered, hair flaming.

'I was just checking he was okay' Ginny mumbled to Ron 'you took too long.' Harry watched her standing there, something about her looked different from downstairs but he had no idea what.

'I'm fine, thanks' Harry told Ginny who nodded and left.

'Did she look different?' Harry asked

'No' Ron told him simply, exactly the same as downstairs; you were probably just in too much of a trance downstairs.

'Yeah' Harry agreed realising that he was probably right.

'So do you like her?' Ron asked

'Huh?' Harry asked 'who?'

'no-name' Ron told him

'Not really, I only wanted to know something about her, I wouldn't mind being mates but I'm not interested in the way she likes me.' Harry told him dismissively. He looked out of the window and saw Hagrid in the grounds, he was chasing some geese around, they were trying to RESCUE the one that Hagrid had caught and he was trying to round them into the forbidden forest.

Harry woke up early the next morning, it was still dark outside but he didn't want to stay in bed, he got up and changed. Considering the opportunities ahead of him he grabbed his invisibility cloak and left the room.

He was on the stairs when he put the cloak on, he walked down to the common room, where a couple of people were sitting sleepily on the chairs hurrying to do their homework at the last minute. He climbed through the portrait hole quietly. The corridor however exploded with shrill screams:

'WHO'S THERE? SHOW YOURSELF! THERE ARE TO BE NO STUDENTS OUT OF BED AFTER HOURS!' the fat lady screamed at thin air, Harry kept close to the walls as McGonagall ran past to shut up the portrait. As Harry got to the corner he heard McGonagall begin a shouting match with the lady:

'My Lady! You are going to wake up the entire castle! It is 4 am!' he heard her shout and smiling to himself Harry slipped away, he crossed to another corridor in order to go down another staircase and to not risk meeting any other teachers coming up to deal with the commotion.

It didn't take him long to find the stairs even though it was dark, he went down watching out for anything odd going on in the castle and in the grounds. There was breathing coming from nearby. Then it happened in less than a second, one moment he was walking carefully down the stairs and the next he was laying flat on his back, with his invisibility cloak off at the bottom. He blinked a few times, everything went blurry, things were going in and out of focus, but worse he heard some footsteps above his head somewhere. His vision went black but he heard breathing from above him, the same breathing as before and knew someone was standing over him. Eventually his vision came back slowly, for a moment it seemed he was watching a bad YouTube video and the clips were pixellated. There was a buzzing in his ears as someone spoke beside him, he hoped it wasn't a teacher but all the students would be in bed. He blinked as his vision came back again, he saw the person above him, oh no anyone but this. His hearing eventually came back too.

'Harry? Harry can you hear me?' the voice said quietly but clearly

'Yeah' Harry said sitting up, it seemed something was loose and rattling in his head 'what are you doing up?'

'I could ask you the same question' no-name told him 'and where did you come from? You weren't anywhere to be seen then you tripped over me and obviously went flying, I never saw you until you landed down here.'

'You must be tired, I was there alright' Harry lied 'I couldn't see you though'

'I wasn't exactly trying to be seen' she said

'Just to be tripped over?' Harry asked rubbing his head, she gave him the evils but smiled slightly which changed to a wide-eyed pale face of fear. A cold voice was coming from the top of the staircase. She span around looking at the stairs and backed into the wall; Harry grabbed his cloak from beside him, threw it over his head and shuffled towards the wall too, but as he was about to throw it over no-name too Snape spotted her. She turned around and flicked a glance at where Harry had been.

X.x.X No-name's point of view X.x.X

I turned to look at Harry but he was gone, where did he go? And how could he leave me here to face Professor Snape alone? I turned back to Snape fearfully. He seemed to consider my presence; I got a chill up my spine.

'Students are not to be out of the common room after hours' he said coldly

'I'm sorry sir, I never knew' I said quickly trying to glaze over the fact I wasn't in bed with the fact that I was nothing more than Liana to him.

'you knew perfectly well' Snape said seeing through my act, I had the strange sensation he was scraping inside my mind, like he was doing occlumency, I looked down at the floor and felt it stop, he WAS doing occlumency! I cleared my mind completely and looked back up at him still not looking straight into his eyes.

'10 points from Gryffindor' he said slowly 'I heard someone else down here, who were you talking to?' he added accusingly. I considered, I could tell on Harry, he abandoned me here, but no why should we both get in trouble, it would be more points off of Gryffindor anyway, maybe he'll think I'm a better person if I do this for him. Suddenly I realised Snape was trying to gain entry to my mind again and snapped my thoughts away from Harry.

'I wasn't talking to anyone' I told him, he kept searching my eyes, I let him but each time he gained access to my mind I thought of quidditch then snapped him out of my thoughts. He looked defeated. 'To bed' Snape ordered I nodded and walked up the staircase.

'And 5 points from Gryffindor for lying' he added as I reached the first step, I swung around.

'That's not fair!' I told him 'I didn't lie!'

'Prove it' he said, I didn't retaliate but he stared into my eyes again. Quickly I turned away and walked up the stairs. I never went back to the common room I walked until he was hidden in the darkness and sat back down on the stairs.

x.X.x Harry's Point of view x.X.x

I watched no-name walk up the stairs and as she disappeared into the black Snape turned and continued down. I wanted to know where he was going but I stood still for several minutes as I heard all the sound around me die away. Then I continued down the stairs too, I wasn't going to follow Snape, I didn't know where I was going at all but every twist and split in every corridor had to go somewhere. As I walked I considered that I should've gone to say thank you to no-name but she would surely be in bed by now.

As I reached the very bottom of the stairs I heard footsteps again. I stopped dead again and moved against the wall in case anyone was heading my way. I looked every direction, until I saw it, a small figure of a first year girl, with long blonde hair was walking towards the opposite corridor. I watched her pass, her arms swung loosely by her sides and she was wearing what appeared to be a bright yellow night-dress covered in horse skeletons with wings, and black shoes on her feet. Her eyes were closed, she was obviously sleepwalking. I decided I couldn't risk waking her and continued down the corridor, soon I realised I was just walking routes that I knew around the castle. I took off my invisibility cloak and coughed. Many of the occupants in the pictures nearest me woke up.

'What are you doing here?' one of them asked sleepily

'It's after hours, you should be in bed' another told me

'give him a break fellas' it's not like you never all went on midnight strolls through the castle when you were here.' one more portrait said

Harry turned to the last one that spoke. 'I couldn't sleep' I admitted 'do you know any secrets that this castle has?'

'This castle has many secrets boy, you shouldn't be searching for them' the portrait told me

'I mean like places to explore?' I asked again

'Try talking to the knight at the end of the corridor' he suggested 'tell him "jelly beans and chocolate frogs" he'll give you somewhere to go'

'Thanks' I said and walked towards the end of the corridor eventually throwing the cloak over myself again.

At the end of the corridor the knight was asleep leaning on his sword. I coughed again and he sprung awake

'Jellybeans and chocolate frogs' I told him confused

'Right you are' he said sleepily swinging forward, now I understood, it was a password. I walked into the passage and closed the portrait after me. The passageway was darker than outside but I walked forwards getting the image of things standing on either side of me. And soon I was out on the other end of the passage way in the charms corridor. "This way would be a lot faster than my usual way to charms" I considered "I have to tell Ron and Hermione about this".


	23. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 23

x.X.x Later with Hermione, Ron and Ginny x.X.x

'Where's Harry?' Hermione asked as Ron crept down the boys' staircase

'Not in bed' Ron grumbled 'he's probably gone down to breakfast already' Hermione and Ginny looked at each other, they both wore unreadable expressions.

'We might as well go to find out' Ginny suggested.

Soon they were in the great hall again; Harry was nowhere to be seen. Hermione and Ginny were casting glances up and down the Gryffindor table and towards the doors in case they missed him; Ron was eating his Goosio's happily again.

'RONALD! WILL YOU STOP EATING?' Hermione yelled, the Weasley twins, lee and Kelly Ashcroft stared at her from down the table, she quietened her voice 'Harry is missing, can you please care for once?' she pleaded

'I do care' Ron said with a mouthful of food

'Then stop eating!' she pleaded

'What's the use of starving ourselves, it's not going to find Harry any faster' he said eating a huge spoonful of Goosio's Cereal

'It would if we went to look for him' she mumbled turning back around to look at the doors which someone had just come through. No-name stood looking tired, she looked up and down the Gryffindor table; she eventually chose a spot far enough away from everyone else. Ginny looked at Hermione,

'Does she usually look that tired?' Ginny asked

'She never looks tired' Hermione told her 'at all'

'Well maybe she's been up for ages then?' Ginny suggested 'I wonder if she's seen Harry'

'I'm not going to ask her' Hermione told her sternly

'fine I will, so much for looking for Harry' Ginny said stubbornly 'I'll be right back' Ginny got up and went to sit beside no-name.

'Hey' Ginny said, no-name never replied 'right, I know you don't like me, but have you seen Harry this morning?' Ginny continued, no-name looked up at Ginny

'Yeah, I saw him earlier' she told Ginny 'but that was hours ago'

'Hours ago?' Ginny prompted

'Like 4ish'

'What on earth was Harry doing up then?' Ginny asked

'Don't ask me' no-name shrugged

'Fine. Thanks' Ginny said, she got up and walked back to Hermione 'She said she saw him at 4ish'

'4 am?' Hermione confirmed

'Yeah'

'But why would Har-'

'She doesn't know' Ginny told her. They were leaning towards each other talking quietly; they had stopped double, triple and quadruple checking the Gryffindor table and the giant doors. Ron opened his mouth to talk but inhaled a crumb and choked. (I just choked) He got over it as fast as he could

'Open your eyes' he told them sternly, they both straightened up and checked Ron was okay,

'Not me' Ron said redirecting his eye level to above their heads and rolling his eyes. Just as he did so someone put a hand on each of their shoulders, the girls both screamed at the quickness of it all and swung around to see Harry standing over them. Suddenly Hermione, now facing Harry completely leapt onto him knocking him backwards while falling off of her chair and locked him into a hug.

'Calm down' Harry told her wriggling to loosen her grip, 'I haven't been gone that long'

'Harry we had no idea what happened to you!' Hermione scolded him as she lowered her feet to the floor (they were off because she had to jump over her chair to reach him)

'Hermione, its Hogwarts, what COULD happen to me?' he laughed

'Don't give me that after all your injuries last year, Harry Potter!' she told him even more sternly, she sat down and Harry followed. 'Anyway, you've been gone so long lessons start in sixteen minutes and we haven't eaten breakfast yet.'

'Well you should've eaten something then' he told her 'I bet Ron did'

'Yeah, I 'old you, 'ermione' Ron said with a mouthful

'Well it's not going to help complaining, Hermione. Where've you been?' Ginny asked Harry as she began to butter some toast.

'Just exploring' Harry shrugged

'No-name said she saw you at 4ish' Ginny told him

'Who's been talking to no-name?' Harry asked surprised

'Me' Ginny admitted

'Really?' he asked now pouring his own Goosio's cereal; Ginny shot a glare at him. Not long later, they had all eaten and were running off at top speed to their lessons.

For the first time since they had returned to school Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were all out at both lunch and break time.

'I'm so glad its Friday!' Ron said stretching and laying down by the lake at Lunchtime, Harry didn't hesitate a second before agreeing with him, it was so fast that Ron had barely finished talking. Hermione and Ginny were chatting quietly and happily together with their bare toes in the shallows of the water.

They all had their cloaks, jumpers and ties off and on the ground beside them, the summer was in full swing and was warm enough for a visitor to believe it was July not September.

'Can you believe the next holiday is Christmas?' Harry said to them all 'I mean with this hot weather'

'Actually, the next holiday is Halloween' Ginny corrected him

'But that's just a week off; everyone is still in school, doing work. Just not in lessons' Harry told her 'I mean the next proper holiday'

'When we don't have to put up with gits like Malfoy' Ron told Ginny, she laughed at him apparently thinking he was being overdramatic again 'any lessons after school tonight girls?' Ron continued

'No' Hermione said, 'I need to work on homework though, and Hagrid's doing care of magical creatures lesson on Monday at lunchtime, which I expect you're going to?'

'Yeah, we told him we would' Harry informed her.

'I can't wait for the end of the day' Ron said still lying on the floor 'I'm going to fall asleep here'

'Put your feet in the water' Hermione suggested 'it will wake you up a bit'

'I'm fine thanks' Ron told her

'you don't want Ron to take his shoes off' someone laughed from behind them 'he'll kill us all' The four of them turned around to see Fred and George behind them, the twins joined them sitting beside the water,

'Like your ones to talk' Ron muttered towards them, gently closing his eyes.

'You're not going to sleep out here are you?' George asked

'You might accidentally end up in the lake with the squid' Fred added

'The only way that would happen is if you threw me in and THAT won't happen' Ron told them

'I wouldn't bet on it' they said

'Hermione wouldn't let it happen' Ron said quickly just choosing a name, Hermione grinned 'anyway I'm not going to fall asleep, I'm just keeping my eyes closed'

'Uh-huh' the twins agreed unconvincingly 'talking about bets.' they added quickly averting their eyes to Harry.

'Ron wins' Harry mumbled trying not to let his thoughts stray back to the diary 'what were them consequences anyway?'

'It doesn't matter because you're obviously not lying, good move Harry.' they admitted, both flashing a look at Harry's hands which were supporting him on the ground 'oi! Ron!' They called to him so he opened one eye, they each rummaged through their pockets, both of them pulled out 40 Knuts and handed them to Ron who automatically pocketed it and closed his eyes again.

'Seriously guys' Harry pleaded 'what would the consequences have been?'

'Well lets just say you'd have something on the back of your hand' George said flinching at the thought

'it would be the words "I lied" carved into the back of your hand… supposedly' Fred said 'we knew you'd be honest as long as Ron knew you had signed a contract so we never actually cursed it properly, if you HAD lied you'd just have ink on the back of your hand that wouldn't wash off for a while' Harry nodded acknowledging it.

'Where's Lee?' Ginny asked the twins

'Hanging around with that Kelly girl' George told them

'She makes it really obvious that she likes him, she's as bad as you with Harry, Ginny' Fred added, Harry looked at Ginny shocked

'I don't know what you're talking about' Ginny said stubbornly but blushing

'Obviously Harry never knew then, looking at his face' Fred said

'Then again, isn't he always like that?' George laughed

'Don't be so mean!' Ginny told them sternly, it was Harry's turn to blush.

'So does Lee like her?' Hermione asked

'Not really sure to be honest' Fred said 'he hasn't said, either way.'

'he seems to be kind of into her, but I don't know if it's just because he promised her mum he'd look after her when she got here. He might just be faking nice, we'll find out eventually' George added

'You could just ask him' Hermione suggested

'Where's the fun in that?' Fred asked

'Anyway, Men don't just go up to men to get gossip like that, we work for it. As if he'd tell us the truth anyway, we only act sweet around women' George said

'Not all men' Hermione said

'Name one that doesn't' Fred challenged

'Ron doesn't ACT sweet around me' Hermione told them 'I've seen him when he's with the guys, from afar, and he acts the same'

'Don't you know?' George said shocked, surprised and suddenly serious.

'What?' Hermione said taken aback and getting worried

'Ron's… a girl' George said sombrely and he laughed at her face. Fred joined in laughing at her

'anyway' Fred said calming down faster than George 'from afar, you can't hear what Ron's saying, he doesn't talk the same when he's with the men, he only looks like he's acting the same because he's so small.' Fred grinned. Hermione looked down at Ron still lying on the grass beside her, she wondered whether he was listening but she noticed him breathing heavily and realised he had fallen asleep.

The five of them relaxed and talked for the rest of the lunch while Ron stayed asleep on the ground ('I can't believe he can actually sleep in a public place' Hermione said, 'especially with us around' Fred added). Eventually when the bell rang the others gathered their stuff, Hermione was about to wake Ron when Fred and George stopped her

'What?' she asked

'Give us a chance' George said stepping forward with Fred, Fred picked up Ron's legs and George picked up his arms, then they carried him towards the water side. They placed him down so that his lower half was laying in the shallow water, as soon as they stepped away Ron started to move, he quickly jabbed his legs sideways forcing part of his torso into the water too and he shot into a sitting up position. He jumped up and danced around as the water dripped down his back and down his legs.

'Ron! The bell has gone' Hermione called to him as he tripped over a stone and went flying directly into the lake, finally getting completely soaked. 'We have Professor McGonagall, she wont be happy with you being wet, let alone being late' Fred and George laughed evilly and left, followed by Ginny. Ron crept out of the water dripping wet.

'Wait' Hermione stopped him 'I think I know a spell to dry you off' she paused and thought for a second 'Evaporanumatus' he immediately became dry.

After lessons Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny all crashed on the sofas in the common room and talked until early the next morning entertaining themselves with wizard chess and wizard snap, but stopping for dinner of course. Finally when they went to bed they slept until the later hours of 1pm, apart from Ron who stayed in bed until 2:30.

Ron slumped down the stairs, the sun was high in the sky.


	24. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 24

X.x.X Ron's P.O.V X.x.X

I looked around the almost empty common room I didn't see Harry, Hermione or Ginny anywhere but on a second glance I saw them with Fred, George, Lee and that Kelly girl in the far corner. I went over to them as Kelly put something shiny around her neck.

'Hi Ron' Hermione said spotting me

'Hi' I replied now looking at the necklace from the front of the young girl's neck it said _"Shining Veela" _on it 'you're not really a Veela are you?' I asked her

'Well…' she said grinning mischievously 'partially'

'You don't look like a Veela' I added, confused

'Gee thanks.' she said offended, 'so you like my necklace? My mum sent it to me'

'Sure, it's nice' I told her absent-mindedly, I sat down beside George. 'What time is it?'

'2:30' Harry told me checking his watch.

'Did you want to be woken up earlier?' George asked 'we asked the others if we could take you to see your new friend'

'Who?' I asked 'no-name?'

'The squid Ronald' Hermione told me impatiently

'Oh… no thanks' I replied seriously. The twins laughed at me but I ignored them drowsily, I caught Hermione's eye as she obviously tried to hold back a laugh but she looked back at me and stopped smiling.

x.X.x Normal P.O.V x.X.x

Ginny turned to talk to Hermione but noticed hers and Ron's moment and looked away awkwardly toward Harry.

'Is anyone else bored?' Ginny asked

'No' the twins and Lee told her simultaneously

'I wouldn't mind moving, I've been sitting here for hours now' Harry confessed

'What about you lot?' Ginny asked, talking to Kelly, Hermione and Ron but trying to avoid eye contact with her brother or Hermione.

'I'm too tired to go anywhere' Ron complained, Hermione grinned to say she'd stay with him.

'I don't feel like moving' Kelly agreed, shuffling very slightly towards Lee. Ginny looked disappointed

'Why don't we go to the quidditch pitch?' Harry suggested 'I told you earlier this week I owed you a game of quidditch, sort of'

'Sure' Ginny grinned.

'I've just got to get my broom' Harry told her. They got up and left with a quick goodbye to the others, the twins watched them leave disbelievingly. Ginny followed Harry up to his room.

Ginny stood in the doorway as Harry went inside and reached under his bed. He pulled out a few items, a couple of books, a huge grey shirt and a pair of dusty grey socks, and then he reached the broomstick. Harry got up and kicking a few of the books back under the bed turned to Ginny who realised she was staring at the huge clothes.

'they're my cousin's and uncle's old things' Harry told her as she stopped staring 'before I found out I was a wizard, and Gringotts I had to wear that sort of stuff all the time' Ginny looked down at the tattered sleeve of her second hand jumper and smiled that she knew she at least more or less fitted the things she had to wear. Then they left the Gryffindor tower together.

When they reached the quidditch pitch they discovered a couple of people sitting in the stands, mainly Slytherins.

'There must be quidditch try outs soon or something' Harry told Ginny, 'shall we do something else?'

'Like what?' Ginny asked blushing slightly

'Walk, talk, visit Hagrid?' Harry suggested, 'I'm sure we can find something to do' Ginny smiled

'Alright… what about your broom?'

'Oh I can carry it around that doesn't bother me' Harry told her, now leaving the pitch. They walked down towards the lake, eventually missing Hagrid's cabin. They continued until they found the edge of the forest and beginning of the lake; it was quite shallow and cool at this point and neither of them could believe none of them had hung around here before. There was no-one around, many were probably afraid of the forest's contents but Harry and Ginny were perfectly at ease. They walked down to the edge of the water; Ginny slipped on a pebble that moved underfoot, Harry caught her hand quickly and checked she was okay as Ginny started to laugh.

'Whoops, thanks' she said casually continuing to walk, she stopped right on the water edge and looked into the shallow blue water. Harry stood beside her, watching her, the broom between them. Ginny looked down between the broomstick and the water. No-one talked for a while

'Have you ever thought what it'd be like to fly above the lake?' Ginny asked

'Not really' Harry said.

'Well don't you think it'd be cool? If we were to fly over the giant squid, we might be able to see it' Ginny grinned 'that was be so awesome'

'What if we were to fly too low and the squid got us?' Harry asked her

'Well then don't fly low' Ginny told him

'Or if we fell off?' Harry asked

'You worry too much Harry' she told him, 'you're a fantastic flyer, anyways, there are two of us, so we can rescue one another'

'You actually want to, now?' Harry asked her shocked.

'Well night time would be cool too, but since we're both together it'd probably be better now, and we might not see anything at night'

'Might not see anything now' Harry told her

'We could still try it' Ginny asked

'You REALLY want to do this, Gin?' Harry asked

'Yeah, and if your not, can I borrow the broom?'

'Ooh no, this is way more powerful than the school ones, you wouldn't be used to it, you're more likely to fall off and it'd be my fault'

'No, it'd be mine.' Ginny corrected him, 'and if I can't please come Harry'

'Alright I've got to say, it DOES sound interesting' Harry told her 'but I control the broom okay?' Ginny grinned and watched Harry mount the broom.

'Sit in front' he told her 'so I can make sure you don't fall, your brothers would kill me' Ginny got on the broom too and blushed furiously as Harry put his arms around either side of her to hold the broom. They kicked off from the ground and the wind hit them immediately sweeping Ginny's hair into Harry's face

'Sorry Harry' Ginny said as they hovered, she moved it over one shoulder. Harry leant into her slightly and they began to move forward gradually building speed.

'Sit a little lower into the broom so we can speed up' Harry told Ginny who was more than happy to do so. They sped up loads and Harry directed the broom over the deeper parts of the lake also rising in height at the same time.

'It's beautiful' Ginny called to him through the wind. Harry saw something move further out into the lake and moved the broomstick to follow his line of vision.

'What is it, Harry?' Ginny asked

'I saw something in the water, thought we could check it out' Harry told her still gaining height and speed, he stopped almost suddenly as something was clearly beneath the pair.

'Look Harry!' Ginny squealed they both looked over the broom; there were some merpeople below them looking up at them and singing.

'What are they?' Harry asked

'Mermen' Ginny told him 'muggles know about mermaids, but this is what they really are. Can you hear their song?'

'Not really' Harry said 'but a little' as he was watching them Ginny took control of the broom and pushed it to go lower. 'Ginny!' Harry said shocked at the decline 'I told you, I control the broom'

'Sorry' Ginny said absent-mindedly as she heard the song properly

'_We cannot sing and won't be heard,_

_By the men and women of the over-world._

_While we alone enjoy our lives_

_And battle against our own strives._

_Undisturbed in harmony…'_

'That's so cool' Ginny said, I've only read about them before.'

'yeah…time to go' Harry told her pulling upwards sharply as he noticed the mermen suddenly darted from each other'

'What's going on?' Ginny asked practically pushing Harry's arm off the broom handle to get a better view of what was going on below' Harry gripped the broom tighter but still looked down in time to see a giant black squid pass below them; making the water even darker than before.

'Is it scared?' Ginny asked 'I read that squids only ink the water if they're scared, so they can get away'

'What are you? Hermione?' Harry asked

'no I'm the one and only, amazing, dare devil, the one who can talk the famous Harry Potter into flying over a giant squid, Ginny Weasley' she told him jokingly

'Cut the famous' Harry told her, she blushed slightly again

'Well you are, like it or not' she told him 'lets follow the squid' she continued 'see what it does out here'

'I can't see anything down there anymore' Harry told her sharply.

'Fine' she said, faking giving in, but instead she took control again and leant into the broom to speed it up, following the ink trail. It soon stopped but the squid was nowhere to be seen.

'GINNY!' Harry yelled at her taking back control and steering away from the end of the ink trail. 'You could've fallen off, and the squid was probably right below us'

'That was the point' Ginny said annoyed, trying to steer back the broom, Harry held onto the control. They battled over the control and concentration for a while, hovering over a deep patch of dark water. For a second Ginny, in a tactic to make Harry confused relinquished control but took a sharp turn as soon as he had relaxed.

'SPLASH!' Ginny fell straight off the broom and into the depths, Harry dived the broom to hover slightly over the surface, not even Ginny's flaming hair was visible, Harry moved the broom about in all hopes to find her, he waited for what seemed like forever before he saw some red hair raise to the surface followed by a splashing Ginny not far away. Harry brought the broom to her; pulling her soaked from the water by under her arms. He made the broom rise again so they could get away from the water; Ginny coughed and spluttered only half sitting on the broom. Harry put one arm tightly around her and flew to the small deserted piece of lakeside. He landed the broom as Ginny sneezed.

'That's why I was meant to be controlling the broom!' He yelled at her enraged, but he fell silent as he looked at her throw herself onto the floor, dripping wet and pale. 'YOU are impossible' Harry told her 'you could've drown, Gin' She looked close to tears. Harry realised that she had learnt her lesson and changed tactics. 'you're soaked, and you're going to freeze' he told her 'take off your jumper, you can wear mine and we'll go back up to the common room so you can dry off before you get hypothermia' Ginny tried to remove the jumper that was usually too small but was also heavy in her low breath and covered in water. Harry helped her and removed his jumper. She put it on herself as the material fell to just above her knees and was extra long on the arms. Had it not been for the hem of her skirt showing it would appear she wasn't wearing anything else. As Ginny's head popped up through the neck hole, hair covering her face, Ginny dissolved into tears. Harry wasn't sure what to do but as she sat on the bank he sat next to her and put an arm around her.

'I'm sorry Harry' she cried 'my brothers will be so disappointed in me. And my parents'

'Why would your parents find out?' Harry smiled at her.

'Percy will write to them' Ginny cried leaning into Harry's half embrace. He put his other arm around her.

'None of them have to find out' Harry grinned as he slowly worked up a plan in his mind.

'How?' Ginny asked looking up at him, finding him to be extremely close

Harry took something out of the pocket of the jumper he put on Ginny.

'You can't tell anyone I have this okay?' he asked her, she tried to see what it was but failing she agreed. 'I got up early this morning so I kept it with me' Harry told her now showing her the invisibility cloak.

'What is it?' she asked

'I'll give you a clue' He told her, he stood up and swung the cloak over his shoulders.

'An invisibility cloak?' she said quietly astounded 'where did you get it?'

'A Christmas present last year' he told her 'it used to belong to my dad'

Ginny grinned, 'but how would I change clothes without people realising? And not to mention suddenly coming out of the dormitories when I hadn't yet gone upstairs?'

'well you have to go downstairs in the cloak too, then come out from under the cloak somewhere that no one is around and go back upstairs.'

'And what about the clothes?' Ginny asked

'well you have 2 options' Harry said 'either the more timely option, go upstairs change into something else, have a wash so you don't smell of the lake, let the clothes dry and change back into them, making sure you are also dry. Or wear something similar and just hope that you don't get noticed.


	25. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 25

Like, wear just a top and wrap a similar jumper around your waist, because no-one saw what you were wearing under the jumper anyway. But you also need a similar skirt and stuff.'

'I don't have things that are that similar, but it'll take too long to dry everything off' Ginny complained.

'Well the third option is to tell everyone' Harry told her

'What if we tell Hermione? Only Hermione?' Ginny suggested 'I'm sure she knows some spell that means you get dry faster'

'She does' Harry told her, 'she used it the other day, but how would we tell Hermione without getting the others attention too?'

'Send an owl?' Ginny suggested still dripping wet

'Hedwig is still at the burrow and we'd have to get one from the Owlery anyway'

'Ooh I know!' Ginny said sneezing again 'have you got parchment?'

'Uhh, only if there's some in that pocket' Harry said pointing at the ones on the jumper. 'But I have no ink'

'Oh… well I'm freezing, we'll figure out a way on the way to the common room' Ginny said disappointed.

'we'll go up into my dorm, its always warm up there and it means I can bring Hermione to you rather than telling her to meet YOU in your dorm, which would raise suspicion' Harry said

'But my brothers could follow' Ginny said.

'Well stay under the cloak until we're back, and we've locked the door.' Harry suggested.

'Okay' Ginny agreed, Harry handed her the cloak and she covered herself in the mysterious material.

Once in the Gryffindor tower Harry clambered through the portrait hole with the invisible Ginny. He counted his room mates in the common room and signalled Ginny to go upstairs. He spotted Hermione.

'Hermione, can I talk to you?' he asked

'Sure Harry' she agreed leaving the others. 'What's up?'

'Not here.' Harry told her walking towards the staircases.

Once they were in the supposedly empty dormitory he closed and locked the door behind them.

'This cant be good. Last time I was locked in a room I got a concussion.'

'Don't worry, I'm not a Slytherin' Harry told her 'Ginny?' Ginny appeared in the far corner still soaked though no longer dripping.

'What are you wearing?' she asked

'HEY!' Harry protested 'that's MY jumper!'

'Ooh sorry' Hermione grinned apologetically 'why are you so wet?'

'I fell in the lake' Ginny said sorrowfully

'How FAR in?' Hermione said shocked

'About 5 to 10 metres' Ginny told her, Hermione looked astounded

'How on earth did you FALL that far in?' she asked 'it's only 1 or 2 metres for about a 10 minute swim from the shore.

'We weren't at the shore' Harry cut in 'we were on my broom'

'What?' Hermione asked 'how could you be so stupid? The lake is really dangerous'

'Look, Hermione, Do you have a spell so Ginny can dry off quickly?'

'Well… yeah.' she began 'but it won't take away the smell of lake water'

'Well, Ginny can have a wash quickly then, tell us the spell and you can go if you like'

'Fine, Ron's waiting for me, it's Evaporanumatus, what should I tell Ron if he asks?' Hermione wrote down the spell and directions to do it on a spare piece of parchment and gave it to Harry.

'Uhh…' Ginny and Harry chorused

'Just tell him it doesn't matter, we'll make something up later' Harry told her

'Or make something up and make sure to tell us what it was later before we talk to him' Ginny added

Hermione nodded and unlocked the door to leave.

'Do you want to use our shower?' he offered. Ginny paused for a second

'Alright' she said looking slightly embarrassed. Harry directed her towards the bathroom and she shuffled towards it eventually reaching the door and shutting it quickly and locking it from the opposite side. Harry laid on his bed, wondering what to do while waiting for her.

x.X.x With Ginny x.X.x

5 minutes Later Ginny finished in the shower and took her clothes out of the sink where she had left them soaking in some bubble bath water. She rung them out making them slightly more wrinkled than before and with difficulty slipped the clothes back on hoping she'd be a lot more comfortable in a moment when Harry performs the spell Hermione gave him. She pushed open the bathroom door slowly and dripping wet again stepped into Harry's dormitory. She spotted Harry lying on his bed but he didn't appear to have noticed her coming in. She walked over to him and looked at him.

x.X.x Ginny's P.O.V x.X.x

Harry was asleep, I hadn't been that long in the shower but he must have gotten bored. He was smiling in his sleep and I wondered what he was dreaming about. I almost never wanted to wake him, after all he had said he got up earlier than the rest of us, but I knew we never had much time. I reached slowly to shake his arm and wake up when a bang came at the door. Harry's eyes shot open and he saw me standing above him, he smiled at me but looked towards the door.

'Hello? Who's in there? Why's the door locked? Harry?' Ron's voice came from the other side. I stood shocked over Harry. He rummaged around his bed sheets for the spell Hermione gave him, finding it just in time to cast the spell on me. Thankfully he pulled off the spell easily with Hermione's clear instructions.

'Alohmora' Ron's voice said from the other side of the door 'alohoomora, alohomora' the door clicked alerting us to the unlocking. 'Ahh I love charms' Ron said opening the door, still staring at the lock. He looked up at us and his jaw dropped. I realised how odd it must have looked to him. Harry's wand pointing at me as he sat on his bed with me standing so close to him. I pushed Harry's hand holding his wand down to his side quickly but realising this brought me closer to Harry I stepped back quickly.

'BLOODY HELL!' Ron yelled 'WHY ARE YOU TWO IN HERE WITH THE DOOR LOCKED?' I had no idea how to reply, and clearly neither did Harry as he began mumbling beside me.

'Uh… umm… We were… um' he said

'Harry shut up you're making it worse.' I scolded. I felt my face get warm and knew I was blushing, making it look even worse to Ron, his face turned red in anger and I knew if we had an excuse we had to make it now. Something suddenly sprung to mind.

'Ron. Calm down.' I began 'I can explain' though I was still fixing up a plan in my mind.

'Go on then' he said still angry

'I… came up to borrow something.' I told him quickly 'Harry was in the shower, look at the bathroom, all that steam, he only just came out. But we can't find the book I came up to borrow.'

'Yeah I was going to summon it' Harry agreed, 'but it's not working' Ron looked suspiciously at me for a while. I tried to look as innocent as possible

'Well, what book did you want?' he asked

'Umm… quidditch' I said as it popped into my mind 'umm… Harry said he had a broom care book, from Hermione last year'

'Why do you want that?' Ron asked 'you don't even have a broom'

'It's got some cool stuff in the back' I said, hoping there was something in the back.

'Oh, alright' Ron said 'well I think I saw it under your bed mate' I let out my breath quietly looking towards Harry who was still red in the cheeks; we had gotten away with it.

'But why was the door locked?' Ron asked, I went to talk again but only managed to inhale before realising I had nothing to say, my breath caught in my throat as Harry filled the silence

'Ginny must have shut the door too hard' He told Ron 'you know how that door locks itself.'

'Oh, right' Ron said. 'But you never opened it'

'He was concentrating on summoning the book' I said quickly, everyone fell quiet and I realised I was still standing there and could now leave. I dived under Harry's bed and grabbed the book, stood up and left the room. At the same time, calling back to Harry I'd give it back later.

x.X.x Normal P.O.V x.X.x

Ron stared at Harry who still looked red. He moved out of the way for Ginny to pass but kept his eyes fixed on Harry. He looked different somehow. He shut the door behind Ginny. He looked Harry up and down, he had a pair of slightly creased trousers and t-shirt on and his bed hair was back when it had been neat this morning.

'okay Harry, what REALLY happened?' Ron said suddenly infuriated again as he noticed and put these things together.

'What? Nothing happened, we told you what happened' Harry argued

'then why is your hair all messy?'

'I had a shower, I haven't sorted it yet' Harry said

'no that's the hair you get when you're in bed, NOT in the shower'

'well when I haven't sorted it by the time it's dry I get the same hair.' Harry made up

'what about your creased clothes?' Ron questioned.

'I hadn't hung them up properly' Harry told him

'liar' Ron accused

'I am not!' Harry argued

'are'

'not!' Harry said, as Ron went to open his mouth again Harry added 'if I'm lying what do you think happened Ron?'

'oh you do NOT want to go there'

'I don't want to be called a liar!'

'well you are!'

'I'M NOT!'

'HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN EVERYTHING THEN?'

'I ALREADY HAVE! WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED?'

'you don't want to ask him that, Harry' a girl's voice said from the doorway. Ron leapt out of the way and opened the door. Hermione and Ginny were standing outside

'stop listening to our conversations' Ron told Ginny angrily

'yeah you're not talking ABOUT me then?' Ginny said just as annoyed

'of course we are!' Ron shouted 'but you are too young to hear this!'

'WHAT?' Harry said, 'WE weren't saying anything like that, and Ginny and I weren't DOING anything like that'

'oh I'm not old enough to hear something, even though I'm supposedly old enough to do what you're just TALKING about?' Ginny argued, aggravated

'everyone calm down!' Hermione said sharply everyone fell silent at her order 'Ron I don't know HOW you're getting THEM ideas in your head, but I was up here, and I KNOW they weren't doing… what you're thinking'

'but they wont tell me the tru-' Ron complained

'Ron, they don't have to tell you everything, if they've told you something that you don't believe, pretend to believe them' Hermione pleaded 'to keep us all friends' she widened her eyes and stared at him, willing her eyes to dry out and to start to water but they didn't and she had to keep his eye contact for as long as he'd keep hers. Eventually Ron looked away

'fine. But I'm going to find out eventually. Somehow' he warned them. He went to leave the room 'Ginny, you're leaving too' he ordered pushing her out of the door.

'DON'T PUSH ME!' she shouted at him 'you can't order me to leave!'

'I just did' Ron said now forcing her down the stairs 'you're not allowed up here anymore'

'I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT!' Ginny screamed at him, finally breaking away and dashing up the girl's staircase. Ron looked around the common room at the staring faces.

x.X.x With Harry & Hermione x.X.x

Hermione looked uncomfortable, along with Harry.

'thanks' Harry said breaking the tension slightly

'don't mention it. But I wouldn't suggest being alone with Ginny for a long while' Hermione advised

'I don't think we will be anyway' Harry said

'I better go check on Ginny, they're causing a racket' Hermione said. Harry nodded and Hermione left shutting the door behind her. Harry couldn't stop himself from kicking his bedside cabinet.

Hermione went down into the common room, she spotted Ron leaving through the portrait hole and continued upstairs to Ginny's dormitory. She knocked on the door and opened it.

'hey' she said to Ginny.

'hi' Ginny said from the window.

'Ron got you a bit worked up?' Hermione asked

'yeah' Ginny said 'who is he to make assumptions like that about Harry and I?'


	26. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 26 to 29

**Sorry, I've forgot to upload to fanfiction for a while. So this is chat rooms 26 to 29. But I have split it in half so it's easier to read for you. But it's not separated into chat rooms sorry.**

'well everyone does know that you like him' Hermione told her

'but still, why would we EVER do anything like that? We're not even going out!'

'I know' Hermione said 'but he's just looking after you'

'I don't want him to look after me' Ginny told her 'I want to have fun at Hogwarts, to learn despite whether he does or not, and to make my own friends. These are supposed to be the best days of my life; my older brothers loved Hogwarts'

'you mean Charlie?' Hermione asked

'and Bill, has Ron not mentioned him?' Ginny asked

'umm, he might have done.' Hermione said 'but I only remember he mentioned Charlie because of all the dragon stuff last year.'

'oh right, 'Kay' Ginny said simply 'I'm so bored' she added after a while.

Hermione perched herself on the side of Ginny's bed, 'we could work on that presentation for muggle studies' she suggested thoughtfully. Ginny paused but agreed.

x.X.x with Harry x.X.x

Harry left his dormitory, he'd had enough of sitting around and was determined to find something to do. He had already cleared away most of the things in his room, putting the books back under the bed and putting the invisibility cloak into his pocket.

He started wondering the corridors aimlessly letting his legs control where he was going, he found himself at the passageway the portrait had told him about a few nights before.

'jelly beans and chocolate frogs' Harry told the knight

'how did you know?' the knight in the portrait said, swinging open

'pot luck' Harry told him, now going inside. He walked to the end of the passage way and as he reached the end, the end of passage portrait opened. His heart leapt, was he supposed to be there? Two tall Ginger boys hopped into the passageway, sniggering and shut the portrait carefully.

'what are you doing here?' Harry asked imitating filch and managing to sound uncannily like him

'shh they might hea-' Fred said quietly not turning around; both boys froze and spun around to look at Harry. They were visually relieved to see Harry.

'Potter' George said quietly 'how did you get in here?'

'through the other portrait' Harry said plainly 'what's going on?'

'Shh… someone's coming' Fred whispered to them. George put his ear to the back of the portrait, Harry decided to join them.

He heard footsteps outside and a squeak of a small man, Professor Flitwick. Soon more footsteps followed with a meow of a cat.

'Mr Filch, Mr Filch! Down here! Help me!' Professor Flitwick squeaked at him

'them Weasley twins' Mr Filch's voice snarled

'thank you' squeaked professor Flitwick; he had obviously been helped out of wherever he fell.

'I'll find them' Mr filch grumbled

'quick Harry get back' George whispered as Fred darted behind a statue to his left. George jumped behind the one beside Fred pulling Harry by the collar after him. Seconds later Filch climbed through the portrait and shuffled past with Mrs Norris. George continued to choke Harry for a few seconds until they heard the knight rattling on the opposite end of the Passageway. George released Harry's collar and Harry gulped in air.

'oops sorry mate' George told him as Harry continued to splutter. Harry eventually gained breath again. He dreaded how much like this he could get later when they had talked to Ron.

'how do you know about this place?' Harry asked them

'that's for us to know, and you to never find out' Fred said winking at him 'and yourself?'

'a portrait told me' Harry said 'not long ago, so are there more of these places?'

'loads' George briefed him

'can you tell me where some are?' Harry asked

'ooh not sure about that' George said 'but I did choke you so I suppose we could tell you one'

'great!' Harry exclaimed

'so do you want to know passageways? Or secret rooms? Or ways in and out of the castle? Or hiding places? Or places you can store things secretly? Or what?' Fred enquired

'Hogwarts has all of them things?' Harry asked astounded 'hidden rooms? Really?'

'course' Fred told him

'okay,' Harry said 'I'd love to know where they manage to hide a room'

'okay…' George said he paused and considered 'the most useful you can know about would probably be the room of requirement. We found it ourselves, you go to the seventh floor and walk outside the wall opposite the tapestry of the three trolls clubbing some other creature three times, thinking of what you need and the room will provide.'

'okay, thanks' Harry said not sure whether to believe them, hiding a room didn't seem something that even Hogwarts could do. 'I think I'll go check that out later. Umm… do I have to watch out for anything on the other side of this portrait?' Harry added quickly

'just stick close to the wall and watch where you're walking' George clarified. Harry opened the portrait slowly and stepped out onto the stone clad floor, watching where he stepped he followed George's advice but the swamp that had been erected in the middle was easy to see. Surprisingly George had been telling the truth, Harry wasn't sure why but at least they stopped him from falling into a swamp.

Squelch! Harry's left shoe sank into a disgusting muddy green slime just as he thought he reached the end of the centralised swamp. He managed to pull it out before it got too covered in the substance.

Harry decided to check out the room straight away in loss of places to go and in a quest to find out if the twins had lied.

When he made it to the seventh floor he eagerly inspected each wall tapestry looking for the one that George had described to him. Eventually he found it opposite a plain ordinary wall with a birdcage not far from it. He couldn't think of anything he needed at the time so decided to ask for a hiding place. Pacing backwards and forwards he focused on hiding and soon looked up to find a large door embedded in the wall. He wasn't sure how many times he had paced backwards and forwards but knew it hadn't been there long; he took the door handle and pushed the door slowly open. There was a jumble sale of items randomly placed around the large room. Harry wasn't sure if he could see the walls or more of the large collection of items at the edge of his vision.

He rummaged around what at first glance may have appeared to be junk. The items were a spectacular range of sizes and shapes, he found jewellery to taps, to broken watches to grandfather clocks still tapping out the seconds that he had been in the room, there were ripped invisibility cloaks and damaged shoes; there was even a massive cabinet in the middle of a mess-made walkway. He overlooked most of the random objects and continually found things of worthless value and broken school things. However he also found things that really did fit in with the use of hiding things, rather than an oversized dustbin. These ranged from watches of pewter to golden trophies held in perfect harmony with dust covers.

After finding his 11th broken pewter watch Harry checked the time on his own watch to find he had been in the room for half an hour. He forced himself to leave, wandering if anyone had missed him but overall more relaxed than before hand. At least he knew where the room was for the future.

He still couldn't make himself go back to the common room where he knew Ron would be lingering and so wandered the halls again. This time he managed to find his way to parts of the castle he had never before entered and managed to get well and truly lost. He was lost in the web of rooms and corridors as darkness seemed to swallow the grounds quickly outside. He knew that as soon as the darkness hit him that it would take him forever to find his way back to the common room and so started walking in the direction he expected it to be in, hoping somehow to find his way. He never managed to find his way by the time darkness thwarted his vision but continued to walk blindly towards where he expected the destination to be.

After what he could only guess was an hour some footsteps accompanied his in the hallway. He dodged against the wall hoping not to be seen by whoever it was in his dark jumper and indigo jeans, but as the footsteps got closer he got smaller pushing his back more and more against the wall hoping to sink through it like the one at platform 9 and ¾. He wasn't so lucky; he saw a small light appear at the close apparent corner of the hallway. He waited and then the light hit him.

'Potter?' McGonagall asked, Harry's eyes adjusted to the light slowly.

'yes Professor' Harry answered expecting to get punished or yelled at.

'it's after hours, what are you doing so far from the common room?' she asked

'I'm lost' Harry said in hopes of getting away with his mistake.

'you've been here a year, Potter' she said sternly '10 points from Gryffindor, get back to the common room immediately, I will check that you are there in 10 minutes, if you are not back a further 10 points will be removed from Gryffindor every five minutes, and I am sure your fellow house members will not be happy with you for that.' She left him in the corridor and he began to walk away towards where she had come from still in hopes of finding the common room from pure luck, more footsteps approached from behind him; he decided it wasn't his lucky night and was just considering waking up the portraits to find his way as the next person came around the corner at speed. Harry turned ready to face Snape or one of the more hideous tempered teachers that featured in his and Ron's history of magic masterpieces.

'Harry' the girl said slightly out of breath, now in front of him.

'what are you doing here?' Harry asked no-name

'I lost track of time, I was just leaving when I heard you and McGonagall talking, do you know your way back?' she asked desperately.

'leaving where?' Harry questioned

'a passageway I found, concealed behind a broken candle sconce'

'you found one of those too?' Harry asked 'it's like everyone has their own in this school'

'there are more?' no-name asked

'yeah, most with passwords. Anyway we better get going'

'so you know where you're going?' no-name asked again, back on task

'no… you have your own passageway, don't you know the way?' Harry asked

'no.' she said disheartened 'I only found it a couple of days ago and it's pitch-black out now'

'I had no idea.' Harry said sarcastically 'we better keep going this way, it's the way McGonagall came from'

'then what are doing going down here?' no-name said sounding panicky 'she'll find us again in no time.'

'how else do you expect us to find the way?' Harry asked now thoroughly annoyed. No-name paused.

'fine, but lets hurry' she gave in and sped up dramatically, they turned each way in the corridors, directed by Harry who suspected he knew whereabouts he was going.

'oh this is stupid' no-name exclaimed as they reached another fork in the corridor which Harry was trying to choose between the directions 'lumos maxima' she muttered, he wand lit up the corridor for a few seconds 'recognise anything?' she asked Harry

'do that again' Harry instructed, she complied. 'you're kidding' Harry added 'how did we get here?'

'you know how to get back right?' no-name asked now idiotically frantic

'no' Harry said plainly 'we're back to a bit before where McGonagall caught up with me'

'you're lying?' no-name said patronisingly 'we've been walking for almost 10 minutes now!'

'well lets go this way' Harry suggested pointing to the way they had just come, 'we're obviously not going to find our way through the over loop of corridors, maybe I can figure out my last steps if we use that light spell occasionally'

'this is going to take all night' no-name complained, but she turned on her heels and marched toward where Harry had suggested.

x.X.x In The Gryffindor Common Room x.X.x

'have you seen Harry or Ginny?' Ron asked the twins who were sitting alone in the corner near the portrait hole. Fred span around to Ron,

'yeah, Ginny's in her dorm with Hermione… I haven't seen Harry. When was the last time you saw him?' he asked

'I don't know, a few hours maybe?' Ron suggested 'thanks anyways' he left them alone. Fred had barely turned back when the portrait hole sung open.

'ah yes you two. Has Potter come past?' McGonagall asked them

'yeah' George said quickly 'a couple of minutes ago, he went to bed'

'yeah' Fred agreed 'he asked us to tell people not to disturb him, he started to not feel very well, probably exhaustion' he made up

'okay thank you boys' McGonagall said convinced and left the common room again. The twins turned to face the small table in front of them

'well, well, Harry, aren't you popular tonight.' George mumbled pulling a scrappy piece of parchment from one of his pockets.

'lets see what he's up to' Fred added 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' he tapped the parchment and the marauders map appeared. George unfolded the parchment in several directions.

'there he is' George spotted pointing to him 'and he's got a little friend of his own, can you see the name?'

'I can't make it out, it's too long, and too small' Fred answered 'shall we go surprise them?' Fred stood up and pushed open the portrait slightly; George cleared the map quickly and followed. As they climbed through the hole and closed the portrait behind them the fat lady screamed at them

'where do you two think you're going?'

'a rescue mission!' the twins chorused, leaving the fat lady speechless.

x.X.x not long later with Harry and no-name x.X.x

They heard an echo of footsteps coming towards them quickly. Both second years froze in their steps and watched as two Ginger boys appeared around the corner.

'out for a romantic walk in the moonlight you two?' Fred asked seeing them both

'NO!' Harry said quickly, no-name looked at the floor.

'well everyone's looking for you tonight' George added

'has McGonagall been back to the common room?' Harry asked urgently.

'yeah, we told her you weren't feeling well and went to bed. Surprised she believed us.' Fred briefed

'yeah, how dumb can you get?' George added, Harry faked a laugh.

'so you've come from the common room?' Harry said 'you can show us the way back right?'

'of course' the twins chorused.

x.X.x Half An Hour Later x.X.x

Harry sat in front of the fire alone. No-name had left him as soon as they reached the common room, Harry realised he probably hurt her feelings with the immediate dismissal of Fred's accusation but he didn't care, it'd show her he didn't like her in that way. He settled down to the heat on his knees, he hadn't realised just how cold he had been in the corridors. As Saturday turned to Sunday Harry fell drowsy and as he decided to leave someone pounced onto his shoulders from behind. Shocked at the sudden awakening he span around, Hermione was laughing at his face with Ginny standing not far back. Ginny walked forward and handed him his broom care book.

'alright Harry?' Hermione asked as she stopped laughing.

'yeah, what are you doing down here now?' Harry asked them both

'my roommates were getting annoyed with us whispering in the corner while they were trying to sleep' Ginny told him, 'we thought we'd work on our project down here for a bit'

'it's gone midnight and you're still working?' Harry asked

'it's not like work' Ginny answered 'it's fun, anyway I'm not tired and Hermione always likes to work'

'well what are you working on?' Harry asked

'presentation for our muggle studies lesson on Tuesday' Hermione told him 'how long have you been sitting here alone?'

'I don't know, an hour, maybe 2?' Harry suggested sleepily

'you loner' Ginny offended him jokingly

'says the person saying work is fun' Harry joked back 'what's your presentation about?'

'television' Ginny said happily 'we've designed our own show and everything' Harry laughed

'what show?'

'it's nothing special' Hermione said 'Ginny, can you cut out and stick those things onto the handouts?' Ginny traced the shapes on the paper with her wand and tapped the handouts that Hermione had clearly created. After this both of the pair focused on the work and no longer spoke as much to Harry. He in turn regained his mission to go to bed and left them to their work.

x.X.x Sunday Morning x.X.x

'_wake up cousin!' Dudley screamed somewhere above him, the roof of his cupboard under the stairs crumbled above him, the flecks turned to a vivid green which radiated off of them. Harry saw a room appearing behind them, a hooded figure and a women screaming. Suddenly a green flash of light, brighter than all the flecks falling from his cupboard pierced his vision._

Harry's eyes opened in a flash, sweating and breathing heavily he crawled out from under his covers and looked around the room, everyone was still in bed. He checked his watch for the time as he fastened it around his wrist: 8:30 am. He got dressed and readied himself to spend a few more hours alone. He made his way down to the common room, there was for once nobody in there, and the fire smouldering in the corner lit the room a spectacular red emphasising on the already maroon cushions and wall hangings. He sat down for a while, unsure of what to do next and just trying to leave his nightmare behind as he always had to do, heartbreakingly, when he dreamt of his parents, he always had to because he only ever dreamt of their deaths.

After a long time dwindling on his dream, not sure whether he wanted to leave the memory of his mother behind; Harry decided he'd search for new passageways, starting with the one that no-name had described.

He left the still empty common room quietly. Though it was within hours many portraits were still asleep on the walls. He made his way to the room of requirements where he had found it the night before and continued past, he attempted to remember his previously unplanned steps letting his mind drift away once more, hoping his feet would take him the right direction.

He walked for about 10 minutes before realising he still knew where he was and as he neared another fork in the passage, he decided he had to find a way to secretly mark his way. Suddenly a spur of luck struck as an idea hit him. He went back to the room of requirements and paced in front of the plain wall.

'I need a way to record my directions secretly' he thought to himself 'a way of marking my path and finding it again, until I've learned the way.'

The doorway appeared once again in the wall. He heaved open the door and went into the new room, it was a lot different to the night before. It still had the feeling of a banquet hall fit for hundreds but now it was almost tidy. Around the edge of the room laid bean bags and bookshelves, some stacked with potion bottles, some with spell books and some with magical instruments; unlike the night before only a couple of things looked broken or unworkable. Harry took the nearest spell book and flicked through the pages. He selected a page with what seemed a suitable spell.

'"findan tracelem rupta" to trace the path you have once placed with the spell "tracelem rupta" see page 649' Harry read aloud, he memorised the spell and flicked to the suggested page. Once he had memorised these spells he scoped the rest of the room quickly. He picked out an odd magical instrument which seemed to work close to the way of a muggle compass, but which directs you to a pin which you place wherever you like and a potion which will illuminate the trail only to the holder. Harry hoped that this could be removed from the room without it disappearing but with the other spells at hand he knew the potion would be a last resort anyway.

He quickly found his way to the place he had just returned from and for good measure he sprinkled a bit of the potion into a crack on the floor.

'tracelem rupta' he muttered to his wand he poked the wall with it lightly as he had read to in the spell book and holding the wand by his side he let his mind soften as he walked down random paths in the corridor.

Eventually the hallways became more inhabited as people shuffled around to breakfast and other places of comfort. He had walked for roughly an hour when he had a sudden realisation. He was in the same place he was the night before when no-name had lit up the corridor, only to find they were back to where he had started. He suddenly knew where to go to find no-name's passageway and luckily the hallway around him was empty which gave him space to test any sconces lining the walls. He walked around the corner and picked out the spot where he had encountered McGonagall. He looked up and down the hallway; because it was a bright day it was difficult to tell whether the sconces were broken or just dull in the sunshine. Harry looked into each and found several candles still burning but without any extra wax being created. Eventually he found one that was slightly separated from the wall and not being used, he tugged on it lightly, nothing happened. Had no-name been lying? He continued looking in the sconces and found another in the same condition. He pulled on it, nothing. He continued to look, now losing hope and feeling rather foolish. The sconce about two bricks to the left of where he stood last night was the next broken sconce. This one didn't look broken, just less used; it was had no candles in it at the time so half-heartedly he pulled on it and moved on. This time however something did happen, a quiet scraping of stone could be heard as Harry swung back around to face the sconce. It had gone. A small hole in the wall had opened, Harry scrambled through it.

As soon as he got to the other side the bricks seemed to melt together into a replacement wall. He turned around and looked at the new area. How could there be so many places that he's never seen in one school after being here for an entire year? He was standing in a monotonous room with several small dark passageways off each side, he was sure they were only big enough for a mouse and that there was nothing interesting to see. He wondered how no-name managed to lose track of time in this room but put it down to her probably using this room to sit and think, or work. He pulled on the replaced sconce and let the stones melt into each other until the gap was big enough for him to climb through.


	27. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 26to29

**Part 2 of the chat rooms 26 to 29 chapter.**

He poked the wall with his wand, marking the final destination, as he remembered the spell he had cast.

'findan tracelem rupta' he muttered, he saw a rough but bright yellow line form along the walls and needless to say, he followed it, relieved that his spell had worked. He put the potion back into the room of requirement, until now having completely forgotten about it, but now no longer needing it. He headed back to the common room, a feeling he had forgotten something rattled in his mind.

'hey Harry' Ginny grinned as he came into the common room

'hey' he smiled back still teased by the concern in his mind 'where are the others?'

'Hermione's changing, Ron's asleep' she briefed 'where have you been? With no-name?'

'no, just wandering around, why would I be with no-name?'

'well you wanted to find something out about her' Ginny told him, 'you said you'd do it by the end of the week or it'd haunt you' that was what had been playing in his mind, he hadn't yet seen no-name and had a day to find out something about her.

'that's it! I knew I forgot something, it's been bugging me for about half an hour'

'okay' Ginny said, unhappy to have reminded him.

'have you seen no-name?' Harry asked

'no' Ginny said now happily

'I might go look for her' Harry said thoughtfully

'don't!' Ginny urged 'after Ron gets up we wont be able to hang around together much, we might as well make the most of this time'

'what do you mean make the most of it?' Harry said shocked, Ginny looked confused for a moment then blushed quickly

'no, no, no. I mean talk, have breakfast together, with 'Mione, and be able to actually look at each other without Ron turning into the usual maroon like the posters all over the walls from his anger'

'okay, I wouldn't know where to find her anyway' Harry agreed, but planned to leave if Ron kicked off even once that afternoon to wander the grounds and find no-name. 'how did your work go last night?'

'almost done' Ginny told him, 'Hermione will probably take over what's left of it but I will try to help. I can't wait for the lesson!'

'nerd' Harry joked, there was some noise on the staircase and Hermione appeared.

'Harry you're here' she said surprised, 'where'd you disappear to today then?'

'nowhere' Harry said simply.

'well joining us for breakfast?' she offered.

'sure' Harry accepted happily.

They went to breakfast together, immersed in pointless girly conversation that left Harry feeling very uncomfortable.

'sorry I took so long' Hermione told them 'I was trying to choose something decent to wear, the top I was going to wear had a stain and nothing else was working'

'you're wearing jeans. How could things not work?'

'well I had one that was too bright and stood out too much, some of my tops we're too dull for the jeans, one wouldn't fit right and wouldn't cover up my bra, one kept getting twisted and some were like squares and made me look fat' Hermione complained

'Hermione you never look fat!' Ginny interrupted her

'yes I do! In that little red vest top that I put the purple top over all the time'

'no you don't!' Ginny told her 'you look beautiful in that! I wish I could look that good in things'

'you look better in things' Hermione argued

'I don't, I'M fat!' Ginny told her

'no you're not' Hermione said 'and you have boobs! The guys love that'

'no I don't!'

'you do, you can wear V-necks and stuff, and if I do that I look even more flat chested!' Hermione complemented and complained

'you do not!' Ginny said 'anyways you don't need to wear them sort of tops 'cus the guys look at you without them, you can wear short skirts and vest tops and things'

'short skirts? My legs are like tree trunks!' Hermione complained

'no they're not! Harry will you help me out here?' Ginny argued

'uh…' Harry paused not sure what he was supposed to say, he had never looked at the girls like this and was trying to avoid looking at them now, in case he offended them.

'Harry!' Ginny said offended 'how can you not agree with me?'

'you're both very beautiful' Harry said not looking at either of them 'look a place where you can eat food!' he changed the subject quickly. A few people were inside the great hall, although barely any. Most people in the room were unusually at the Gryffindor table, the Weasley twins were surprisingly two of them, however unsurprisingly they were leaning over some paper alone at one end, and the teachers were making a point to avoid them as they clearly knew what the twins were up to and had they tried to stop them knew they'd become prime targets of their pranks. No-name was sitting alone not far down from the twins, and then a bit further down was Katie Bell with a few others from the quidditch team.

Harry was stuck on where to sit but Ginny took the lead to disturb Fred and George.

'I hope you're not doing anything that might provoke mum to kill you' Ginny said over Fred's shoulder, the twins jumped and whipped the paper they had been craning over out of view.

'it's about time you kids learnt to mind your own business' George told her, 'we spent years training you Ginny, and one week at Hogwarts and you're acting like Ron, where is Ronniekins anyway?'

'I'm offended!' Ginny stated simply before being cut off

'asleep, it's only 9:30am on a Sunday, where would you EXPECT him to be?' Harry told them simply, Hermione sat down about a metre away from George allowing Ginny to sit beside him and Harry to walk to the other side of the table before sitting down. Harry watched no-name, she was clearly going to be there for a while, she had a book out, propped up against the sugar bowl and was scribbling on a piece of paper roughly as she ate with the other hand slowly, how could anyone work so much?

'do you think he can hear us? Harry? Stop staring!' Fred scolded him, Harry came back to the conversation in a snap,

'sorry' he apologised blushing.

'haha!' George laughed 'he's like a little girl!'

'I was not like that!' Ginny argued

'Gin, you've been like it since last year' Fred argued back 'when you first clapped eyes on our Harry here' both Harry and Ginny blushed magenta here, the twins and Hermione burst into uncontrollable laughter causing a lot of attention through the hall.

'now I'm sorry children but we have work to do.' Fred began

'maybe we'll see you later, maybe we wont' George added as they both got up to leave taking their still hidden parchment with them. Harry and Ginny helped themselves to the breakfast around them as Hermione looked up and down the table.

'What's up Hermione?' Ginny asked, noticing her not eating.

'I'm just looking for the Goosio's cereal, it's okay it's down near the quidditch team, I'll be right back.' Hermione got up to leave and began her descent down the long house table only to be stopped by Katie Bell as she wanted to have a quick chat. Alone at the end of the table Harry and Ginny sat talking about the aftermath of their encounter with Ron yesterday, neither of them went into much detail about the meeting itself.

'I never left my room after storming off until we came down to the common room and found you there, though I KNOW Ron will have something to say to me today.' Ginny briefed 'but I know how that conversation will go too, he will start by talking to me like I'm 5 and tell me off for being locked in a room with a guy, then I'll tell him that it wasn't our fault and he'll go maroon and start ordering me never to talk to you or go near you ever a-' both laughing by this point they were cut off

'what are you two doing alone?' Ron asked already in a horrible mood,

'eating breakfast' Ginny told him, 'and we're not alone Hermione is eating with us too but Katie wanted to talk to her for a minute'

'there's no food on any of the other plates' he pointed out

'She's getting cereal from down there' Ginny added 'look in her hand'

'well it sounded like you were planning a way of getting out of what you did yesterday and having a lovely time without Hermione' he told them sharply, his mood was getting worse by the second.

'no Ronald, we were only joking about' Ginny argued again 'why are you up so early anyway?'

'none of your business' Ron said uncomfortably 'you two are banned from being alone together now!'

'surprise, surprise' Ginny muttered under her breath leaving the inevitable argument for somewhere more private at another time.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron had all finished breakfast and were now outside nearby the lake. Again Ron and Ginny were arguing about the argument that had been caused by Ginny's misbehaviour not far from here just the day before.

Harry was leaning against the tree trying to block out the noise as was Hermione with her toes in the water metres away.

'that's it!' Ron screamed 'sit over there!' he said pointing a while to the other side of himself,

'WHAT? NOW YOU'RE TELLING ME WHERE TO SIT?' Ginny yelled back,

'that's the closest to Harry you're allowed anymore! Otherwise you can't hang around with us!'

'I can hang around with whoever I like!' Ginny began 'if YOU want to walk away then do so!'

'OH MY GOD!' Harry burst out 'JUST SHUT UP! I'm going so you can STOP arguing!' Harry got up and stormed away. It wasn't because he'd had enough, well he HAD had enough but the real reason that he shouted then was because he saw no-name leave the castle and head towards the quidditch pitch. Checking behind him he saw that the three people he had left behind had moved on. Ron was sitting on the ground, still yelling at Ginny as she got up and stormed away while Hermione looked upsettingly at Ron. Harry hoped Ginny wasn't too badly hurt but more than anything he hoped she didn't follow him. He began to run towards where no-name had just disappeared. Eventually spotting her again at the other end of the courtyard he had just entered. He slowed down and pursued her at a distance until she stopped, reaching the quidditch pitch stands. Harry followed her onto the stands and sat down at the bottom. He watched her continue to climb the steps and finally settle on a few at the top. As she sat down she leant down behind the seats and brought something out of her bag that she had been carrying around, despite it being Sunday. Harry recognised it to be the same book as she had out at breakfast. She put it on the chair beside her and brought out a pile of parchment that she had enchanted to stick together, her quill and some ink. Still watching unnoticed from the bottom of the stands she dipped her quill in the ink, and put it to the top piece of parchment, then in a thoughtful pose she looked up, seemingly pondering her words until she spotted Harry.

'Harry?' she said, Harry couldn't hear her from down here but he could read her lips as she said his name. He got up and climbed quickly closer towards her until he could hear her voice and slowed down. 'what are you doing here?'

'oh, uh well we're both alone and so, we could both use some company right?' Harry suggested.

'actually Harry, I'm kind of working.' no-name told him

'well take a break, you work so much' Harry told her

'I can't I want to get this finished.' she said, she had the air of impatience and desperation about her 'do you know anything about muggle technology?'

'This is your muggle studies project?' Harry asked 'um… I know some things… but not much… and do you mind me looking at yours when I've been helping Hermione and Ginny? Actually, why aren't you working with anyone?' he knew this was a silly question but thought she might get deep if she wanted help.

'I like to work alone' she said, so no such luck then. 'anyway who is there to work with?'

'well you can always… try to make friends with people.' Harry suggested 'you never seem to talk to anyone.'

'I'm talking to you' she told him sourly

'yeah, and you like me right? To some extent or another?' Harry asked, he was trying to keep this a comfortable conversation but knew he was on dangerous ground

'yeah… I suppose.' she told him, her face was red and she looked down to her work

'well then why don't you give my friends a chance? If you get along with me, and I get along with them, maybe you'll get along with them too'

'Harry I don't want to be tied to any group of friends' she told him, 'anyways Hermione hates me.'

'so start with Ginny and Ron. Ron has your book after all… and Ginny's open minded to anyone who gives her a chance.' Harry continued 'and you have to sit by Hermione in transfiguration now, you might as well try to get along just for the sake of that'

'look Harry unless you can help me can you leave me to work please?' she changed the subject.

'what do you need help with?' he asked, giving up for the time being. He took her book off of the seat next to her and sat down, looking at the book in his hand. He put his legs up on the seat in front of him and noticed through the corner of his eye that the girl beside him had just smiled. Actually smiled! A revelation in the friendship if he wanted to find anything out about her. Harry smiled at her too, he couldn't control it.

'Right, don't tell anyone about my presentation but mine's on computers and more particularly the software of chat rooms. Have you ever used them?'

'I don't have a computer, my cousin Dudley does and I sometimes have to fix his computer for him if that helps, but I'm NEVER allowed to use it.'

'That might help.' She said smiling. 'does this look write to you? I can't figure out what's around this part' She handed Harry what looked like a blue print of a computer and pointed to the only bit that wasn't connected.

'Where did you get this?' Harry asked 'and why is it anything to do with chat rooms?'

'If you come to muggle studies on Tuesday you'll see, otherwise you'll have to wait for Grange-'

'her name is Hermione' Harry told her firmly

'sorry' she said insincerely, 'or you can wait for Hermione or Ron's sister to tell you.'

'Well I'd be murdered from all angles if I were to go, and even if I did go I'd hear about it later anyway I'm sure, so I think I'll go with that option, even though this looks like an interesting presentation.' Harry told her, almost regrettably.

'Fair enough' she shrugged it off.

'Umm… The problem is here: these wires you've joined here are supposed to be there and there' Harry said pointing at various points in the picture. No-name took the picture off of him rubbed out some of the wire lines and connected them to different places.

'Thanks' she said

'You drew this?' Harry said shocked. 'Are you sure you're a second year?' she smiled again. Harry was on a roll here; she didn't even try to hide it. 'Anything else I can do?' Harry asked.

'Umm…' no-name considered the offer 'no, but thanks.'

'You really have everything under control?' Harry asked

'Yep'

'Well then don't you think you have some time to spare?'

'No.' she said bluntly, Harry leant in closer to her, pulling a sad face. 'no, Harry' Harry Sighed

'Fine' he said, 'but I have nowhere to go so I'm just going to sit here while you work' no-name looked up at him, clearly annoyed.

'when people told me about you I never thought you would be so desperate to hang around with somebody like me' she told him.

'and you want to, don't you?' Harry grinned, no-name leant a little closer to him

'more than you know.' she said, Harry's grin faded slightly into one more forced, he was pushing her a bit too far, it was fun when he hadn't expected her to give him any sign of her feelings. 'but I have to work' she finished and leant back again to work. Harry leant back too and stared down at the quidditch pitch, a tall boy dressed in emerald green and silver came onto the pitch and looked up at the two of them.

'OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?' he shouted at them, a few other people came into the pitch, some dispersing to the stands while others to the centre of the pitch, many shouted abuse towards Harry and the 'new girl'.

'I think it's the quidditch tryouts for Slytherin, we're not allowed to stay here.' Harry told no-name as she looked confused.

'right' she told him, grabbing her stuff and leaving, Harry hot on her heels. They reached the bottom of the stands quickly.

'Get out of here pothead, Gryffindor thought that they could get the better of us! Tell Wood he failed! Get used to doing that for when you lose the quidditch cup again this year' Flint told Harry with a malicious grin as he stepped off of the stands. Harry never graced him with an answer and left the pitch behind no-name listening to the vile Slytherin laughter and taunts from behind them. No-name walked silently along moving her parchments around so that they didn't fold as she walked; Harry walked beside her now, noticeably angry at either the Slytherins or at no-name for leading him there.

'Don't tell me you're going to follow me now?' No-name asked, Harry never replied for a moment,

'yeah' he muttered, allowing his want to find things out about her to overcome his anger.

They walked together for a while, no-name took Harry to the edge of the forest where there were a few separated trees, no-name picked one and sat on the side facing the forest rather than everybody nearby. Harry sat himself next to her, but very slightly more around the tree, which allowed him to lean against the trunk as well. Once again she resumed her work. Harry watched the clouds, clearing his mind of everything that had happened over the last week of school and how it had made such a turn since he was so happy to be back to school to Ron hating him and sitting in silence with a girl which he didn't even know the name of.

'why do you not want anyone to know your name?' Harry asked her uncontrollably, he never took his eyes off of the clouds but knew she had looked over to him for at least a moment. She let out a sigh and continued with her work.

'I was just thinking it's got to be quite big if not even the teachers know your name' Harry continued, 'someone must know your name, right?' All Harry could hear was the scratching of no-name's quill but he suspected she was still listening. 'how could you live without anyone knowing your name? you wouldn't be able to ask questions because the teachers would have to come to you each time… you can't show how smart you are because they can't say anything like "yes, miss granger?" sorry to use Hermione as an example but you hear that a lot around here. I mean, you're so smart, but the teachers don't ask you for answers because they don't know your name. I mean if they did, and you answered all the things you know, between you and Hermione, for every point Ron and I lost for messing around, you two alone would get 4 times as many for right answers. You might even beat the number of points lost to the Weasley twins. We'd be unbeatable for the house cup at the end of the year! And why did you come to Hogwarts a year late?' all of Harry's questions were slowly being asked out loud. 'did you go to a wizarding school before Hogwarts?'

'of course I did! I wouldn't miss out on school if I were paid. All of that magic I wouldn't learn! Anyway I would be put into the first year if I had missed a year of school. You NEED to know the basics this year, like the back of your hand' No-name said, she shocked Harry with the sudden knowledge of her background, or at least, a part of it.

'so that's why I'm failing then' Harry joked 'where did you go last year?'

'Taggleworth school of witchcraft and wizardry' she told him, 'it seems to be a little ahead of Hogwarts, but the grounds are nowhere near as grand.'

'where was it?' Harry asked

'Australia'

'but you have an English accent?' Harry enquired

'I was only there a year, Dad got sent to work over there. He works for the ministry of magic and he was needed abroad. So we stayed there a year, but I never really lost my accent'

'so how come you don't have friends here?' Harry asked again 'no offence, but I don't even know your name and I'm the only one that's even talked to you for the last hour.'

'my childhood friends were mainly muggles, others had to travel for their parents' work too. It was because I only knew witches and wizards through my parents, particularly dad's office at work, but they all travel in that part of the ministry.'

'Okay.' Harry said, trying to take it all in. Having fallen silent for several minutes he turned to look at no-name again, this time with a smile which she partially returned.

'I've got to go' she said quickly, looking at her watch. 'I've got loads to do'

'why do you need to go?' Harry asked, but she never replied, just got up, grabbed her things and walked off over the grounds but this time, Harry never followed.

The rest of Sunday passed in a misty haze, Harry couldn't be more glad that he found something out about the new Gryffindor question mark, and before the week was over too. He had rushed back to tell Ron about what she had told him about herself, only to find Ron didn't really care but found it hilarious that Harry did. Then they, with the girls, wandered down to Hagrid's hut and spent the rest of the day talking about Hagrid's plans for his after school lesson for the following day.

Of course, even after their relaxing day once Sunday evening hit Ron and Harry found themselves working frantically on the homework that they had completely forgotten about; this time for Monday's and Tuesday's lessons because they were going to the care of magical creatures lesson after school the following day.

Eventually they dragged themselves to bed (and of course, up late the next morning). Their first lesson happened to be defence against the dark arts meaning that, although they were tired they had to trudge back up 3 floors to reach their lesson.

'Could we not have all our lessons on one floor?' Ron complained

'Or better, just not have lessons?' Harry added

'you wouldn't usually be complaining when it comes to defence against the dark arts Harry!' Hermione told him 'honestly you guys need to do your homework at a more suitable time!'

'we shouldn't have homework either!' Harry moaned, they reached their classroom to find Lupin was just about to shut the door, making them late. They sped up and reached the door before the teacher shut it, with a slightly disapproving look.

'wands out please' he told them as they went inside. The desks were already away and everyone was gathered in the centre of the room. The trio joined the class and the lesson began.

Lesson after lesson passed slowly by and before they knew it both of the guys were waiting for Ginny to come out of her lesson only to be dragged off by Hermione to care of magical creatures. When Ginny emerged from the potions classroom she looked just as beaten down as Ron and Harry did, who were still tired from their lack of sleep.

'get a move on, you're late' Ron said, taking the arm of Ginny's robe and pulling her from the doorway.

'hey don't blame me!' she protested, 'Snape is out to get me!' as she finished she heard Hermione and Harry laugh a little behind her and turned around, sticking her tongue out to them as she did so.

'so what IS care of magical creatures really about as a school subject?' Ginny asked enthusiastically, now smoothing her hair from the potions aftermath. 'can they really give you magical creatures to look after? Isn't that like animal cruelty?'


	28. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 30

'only if you give one to Ron and _DON'T _let me do the work for him' Hermione laughed.

'or if you do' Harry added, laughing. Hermione punched him playfully in the arm and, taking the lead, lead them to Hagrid's lesson.

'hello you four!' he said happily to them over the rest of the classes heads. 'now everyone's 'ere, I'm gonna teach you abou' pumpkin-mites today. A simple creature but none-the-less a fun one to wa'ch' Hagrid began, leading the class round to the side of his cabin to the pumpkin patch. There was noticeably large black dots on the pumpkins and behind the pumpkins was a large box of magnifying glasses.

'take a ma'nifying glass 'n' choose a pum'kin, abou' one be'ween five' The trio and Ginny gathered around a largish pumpkin nearby Hagrid who continued:

'now feel free to look a' the mites while I'm tor'kin'' he said, 'as you can see they look like oversized dog-flees'

'EEK! They're disgusting!' somebody squealed, Hagrid looked up and noticed no-name was standing without a pumpkin, twirling a magnifying glass between her finger and thumb. The girl who squealed was backing away from a pumpkin nearby but she never left.

'oh er, not got a pum'kin?' he asked no-name, who shook her head. 'tha's alrigh' … er, join 'arry over 'ere' Hermione put a sour look on her face momentarily as the girl joined the group and looked immediately through the magnifying glass as if she had missed over half of the lesson and was trying to catch up.

'righ' then' Hagrid continued 'these creatures look rather disgustin' through the glasses, I know, bu' they can help the pum'kins thrive very well. And all they really nee' to survive is a lot of wa'er an' clean pum'kins. You'll no'ice there are jars an' cho'sticks by each pum'kin, wha' I wan' you to do, is pick the mites off with the chopsticks and put 'em in the jars, then you cun spray the pum'kins with a little wa'er and put some in the dir'. Then we'll pu' the mites ba' on whe' we're done.' there was the sound of clicking chopsticks all of a sudden as everyone grabbed some, or pushed them further away so they didn't need to go too near the creatures. Harry immediately grabbed some chopsticks, picked up a pumpkin-mite and put it close to Ginny's face.

'Gross' she laughed, pushing the chopsticks away and grabbing some of her own. Hermione and no-name joined in the work and Ron started to prod one with his finger, seeing it flatten slightly every time and spring back to it's usual shape.

'yuck!' no-name exclaimed at him, making him start the work properly. Soon Hagrid came over and bent down pretending to observe they're skills of removing the oversized flees.

'I'll le' you in on a bi' of a secre'' Hagrid told them quietly. 'I ne'er managed to thin' of somethin' to fill up the las' five minu'es of the lesson. If you leave the mi'es they'll fin' they're own way ba' to the pum'kins' he said.

'Great!' Ron grinned, Hermione sent him a vicious look 'it's much faster that way' he explained to her, the response was a simple shake of Hermione's head.

'so wha' do you thin' of the lesson plan?' Hagrid asked the five of them happily

'great,' Harry said

'yeah it's fun' Ginny said, avoiding the mite Harry was holding near her face again.

'terrific' Ron told him, picking up a mite and dropping it again.

'it's good Hagrid, I can see why Dumbledore wanted you to take over the teaching post'

'it's good, but I have a question' no-name spoke up, Hagrid had forgotten about her, but nodded for her to continue. 'if the mites eat the pumpkins, why are they helping them to thrive? Surely they're not useable after the mites have been on them?'

'oh, err…' Hagrid considered. 'well the ones the mites ea' are used for decoration on'y, they don' ea' them _ALL_ you see, just the ones the leader mites are on'

'but how do they help them to thrive?' no-name asked again, Hermione laughed a little.

'the way birds help plan's, by excre'ing seeds 'n' stuff to make the groun' be'er for 'em to grow.' Hagrid blushed slightly and decided to patrol the rest of the class for a while before returning to talk again.

Once the extra-lesson had finished they went to dinner, then for the boys straight to bed. The girls however stayed up again, to talk and to work.

'They are _SO_ lazy!' Ginny exclaimed after the guys as they walked up the staircase.

'come on Ginny, we've got LOADS to do for tomorrow!' and with that they set to work.

Tuesday came with everybody feeling tired and angry. The lessons went slowly and break was quiet by lunchtime however, Hermione and Ginny were wide awake and Ron, along with Harry, were just awake enough to go drag themselves quickly to an overly sugary lunch for energy. While they did this, Hermione and Ginny routinely headed for Muggle studies to make their presentation.

'Miss Weasley and Miss Granger' Professor Taito said 'can we have your presentation next?'

Hermione and Ginny walked to the front of the class and spread a sheet or two of paper across the board, stuck there by magic and Ginny started handing out the handouts they had made.

'We've done ours on the subject of TV' Hermione explained. 'we didn't really know exactly what to do with the project but we've explained what television is and some brief history notes about it on the handouts.' Ginny coughed a little, turning to Hermione and holding back a laugh at the word 'brief'. Hermione returned her amusement with a small shake of the head at her. 'then we've planned a television show so that you can all see what it's like to watch TV, we've chosen to go by the genre - this means the TYPE of show you watch - of comedy, or humour-based entertainment.' Once Ginny had finished handing out handouts she joined Hermione at the front and they performed a mock-the-week style programme, based on the wizarding lifestyle and news from the daily prophet. It was generally popular with the class however some of the prouder members of the class didn't appreciate the sarcasm involved.

Pair by pair people showed short presentations, mainly on television and sport. Eventually they reached the last person; no-name.

'who's left?' the teacher asked, obviously knowing the answer already, no-name raised her hand. 'okay go ahead, who were you working with?'

'I wasn't. I worked alone' no-name told her, walking to the front with her several sheets of paper. Like Hermione she spread them out across the board for display, she then started talking about how a computer works and her intense studies into the technology and electricity, she then moved on to talking about chat rooms and instant messaging software.

'I've been experimenting with potions and managed to refill a muggle battery with the one I came up with and it's revived, and works in Hogwarts. I had to cast a spell over a dead laptop to get it to work and I have designed a simple, imperfect version of a chat room which would work in Hogwarts. I just don't know how exactly I would make it and never had the time to attempt it.' no-name said to Professor Taito, who grinned.

'thank you. You can sit down now if you have nothing else.' no-name walked to her chair and sat down with a radiating confidence, but still no smile. Hermione crossed her arms moodily beside Ginny but didn't even turn her head.

'Can you please stay behind for a moment at the end to talk to me?' Proffessor Taito added to no-name who nodded. She then continued the lesson, and the class decided to look into television and electricity as a subject for the next term. At the end of the lesson however Hermione stormed out with Ginny following hot on her heels towards the great hall.

'woah!' Ron exclaimed as the girls found he and Harry at their usual place on the table 'how did Hermione get an Exceeds Expectations?'

'what?' Ginny asked, confused as they sat down

'oh he means Hermione always gets outstandings.' Harry said

'Why is she in such a mood?' Ron asked

'I'm not in a mood, Ronald!' Hermione protested 'I'm just tired'

'Professor Taito loved no-name's presentation, she kind of overshone ours' Ginny admitted

'wow, what was it about?' Harry asked.

'Chat Rooms' Ginny said 'they're these things where people using something called the interweb can to talk to each other no matter where they are. And it's even faster than speed owl!'

'you mean the internet?' Harry checked, Ginny nodded but couldn't reply as Ron had begun an overemphasised flurry of questions:

'wait, FASTER? How much faster? Whats the interweb? Can we get it? Is it free? Could it be a way to talk to Harry in the summer? How is it so fast? How can they talk from wherever they are? Is it loud?'

'no but you are' Ginny said, only referring to his last question.

For the next week everything fell into place again, the lessons were boring, the quidditch practise and extra lessons filled up all chance of spare time, Ron and Harry had too much homework to do and Hermione, whenever near no-name would refuse to even acknowledge her presence. However just after coming out of Care of Magical Creatures with the group on Monday evening Ron spotted a new piece of parchment on the Gryffindor notice board:

"_Hogwarts Feast. Tuesday 5pm. Please Attend Where Possible._"

'Want a late dinner tomorrow?' Harry suggested after Ron read it out 'I wonder why they want a feast?'

'maybe there's a really important announcement to make and they want to make sure everyone knows?' Ron suggested

'If they want to tell us something surely they could put another notice up? And it says attend where possible, it's not compulsory' Harry shrugged in reply

'word of mouth will fill in the others, by saying attend where possible they're making sure those who can go think it's important enough to go. And those who can't can't use it as an excuse to get out of detentions and things' Hermione suggested

'right...' Ron said 'I'm going to bed, coming anyone?' Hermione and Ginny shook their heads, but Harry agreed.

'goodnight girls' they both said as they left. As the guys reached their dormitory they found Dean Thomas and Neville talking on their beds, but they stopped as Harry and Ron came in.

'what's up?' Ron asked

'nothing' Dean told him

'have you two heard about the feast tomorrow?' Harry asked, they nodded, 'any idea why we're having it?'

'yep, I was just telling Neville in fact' Dean said 'they want to announce some changes they're making to our rooms'

'changes?' Ron asked

'They're putting computers in' Dean said

'computers? Why?' Harry asked

'what are computers?' Ron added with Neville.

'They're things that…. They're hard to explain' Harry told them

'They've edited them so we can use them in Hogwarts' Dean said, now just to Harry 'they're only going to have chat rooms and emails on them though. We can't use them for anything else.' the word chat rooms sparked something in Harry's memory, Ron's too since he repeated the word pointlessly.

'Is this anything to do with the new girl's muggle studies work?' Harry asked

'yeah. How did you know?' Dean questioned

'something Hermione said' Harry told him.

**Sorry guys! I completely forgot that I hadn't uploaded this yet! :S I'm going to upload up to where it goes onto YouTube now so you can find out what happens. Yikes, I'm so sorry!**


	29. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 31

He took off his uniform and replaced it with different, tattier clothes.

'so how do you know all this?' Ron asked Dean as Harry was occupied.

'I've been helping to make it work. Somebody told The New Girl I was muggle born, I was the only one other than Hermione that she knew apparently. I don't know why she didn't ask Hermione but I've been helping with the computer technical stuff and we've put together a proper chat room just for the school. It's too cool for words.'

'so are you going to the feast tomorrow still?' Harry asked, now freeing his head from his bed top.

'yeah, there's always better food at the feasts. I was the one that suggested we make the announcement this way. Anyways, they want to give us ALL rules for when we're using it and they're going to tell us when they're installing it. We may be kicked out of our rooms for 30 minutes to an hour and I don't want my things lying around when they do.' the others laughed.

The next thing Harry knew he was waking up the next morning and the school day was making it's way pass him. The talk of the school was the feast and Ron had made the error of mentioning the reason of it in front of Hermione who after decided that she didn't want to go.

'Hermione, you HAVE to go, we're not doing anything at that time, it's when we would be eating dinner after Muggle Studies anyway. You know we'll be using it eventually even if we don't like it so we might as well find out the rules. So you can recite them to Harry and Ron later on. They'll be constantly in trouble otherwise.' Ginny told her repeatedly until she agreed to go along.

Soon the feast was here and nobody could back down. Hermione sat and huffily ate her food trying not to think of the speech which would be on any second. Poof. The food disappeared and Dumbledore stood up at the front.

'It is wonderful to see so many people could make it to the feast today.' Dumbledore began 'I have called you all here today to announce a change that will soon be happening around school. As a result of a muggle studies presentation, two second years have been working hard to create several historical items that can now be implemented into our school. These may be recognisable to some of you from outside of school - Computers. As of Saturday we will have a school network, accessing only a "chat room" made to suit to the school's needs and an email system. To those of you who are unfamiliar with these terms, they simply mean a faster way of communicating with teachers and other students in other parts of the school, for example if you are doing homework in your room you can discuss it with your proffessor or a friend by going onto a computer and seeing whether they are online or not without leaving your work unattended. However as a result of this new technology there will be several rules implemented to the school's schedule to allow for it. Firstly, there will be NO bullying online or as usual offline - to help this there will be a word prohibitor on the computers so that any words you may say inappropriate will not send, will log you off of the computer and will be reported to myself and you will be punished by myself or another proffessor who I will appoint at my will. Secondly, if your school work begins to suffer your computer will be set so that you will have limited time on the chat room, so if you wish to use the chat room to help yourself, you will be wise to do any homework you can do alone before going onto the computers as this can cause distraction. Thirdly, there will be set times for certain houses only to use the chat room, a time for teachers only as well as mixed times for general socialisation, this is to prevent bullying and create more time for people to keep up-to-date with school work. Fourthly, the usual hours of being in bed will apply for the chat room and emails however you will be allowed online for half an hour after or before the times when you are not allowed out of the common rooms at night time or in the morning. Finally, the chat room will be constantly checked by a computer system that there are only people with free time during the lesson hours online at these times, if you are skipping lessons or late because of the chat room we will know, so be responsible. The chat rooms will often have teachers checking them to watch for any wrong-doing that might have slipped through the arrangements and this will also be a way for teachers to contact you out of lessons so please check your emails regularly.' By this point everybody was getting bored of listening and were buzzing about the idea of it, but luckily the rules were over. 'We will be putting one computer in each dormitory, 2 in each common room, 2 per table in the Great hall, 5 in the library and Class room 168, 149 and greenhouse 6 will have 5 computers in them as they are currently unused. Also the teachers will each have one in their offices for their personal use and EMERGENCY use for students. Your head of house will hand out log in names to their houses after the feast, this will always be your login however you can change your log in presence at your will, otherwise known as a display name. There will also be a chance for photographs of yourself to be posted for when you talk, but any inappropriate pictures and you will be banned from the computers.

For those of you who do not know how to work computers there will be a tutorial session on Saturday at noon, everybody is welcome to attend and that will be taking place in class room 168 for Gryffindors, 149 for Slytherins, Greenhouse 6 for Ravenclaw and the library for Hufflepuff. Everybody is required to leave their rooms as asked to by those installing the computers into your rooms. This will be happening between 11am and 2pm on Saturday. The library will be closed Saturday morning until the end of the computer lessons, as will the aforementioned class rooms. The great hall will be closed on Saturday between 2pm and 4pm for the computers to be installed into this room. The rules of the computers will be placed on your common room notice boards and any more questions about the computers can be asked to Professor Taito of muggle studies. Thankyou for your time, you may now leave as you wish.' The hall then exploded with chatter.

'Will you be going to the computer lesson Hermione?' Ginny asked, 'I don't want to be on my own.'

'I doubt it, I know how to use a computer and there aren't that many available in one room, sorry Ginny, but I'm sure Ron will, he has no idea about the computers. Otherwise if you don't want to go we can wait for them to be put in our rooms and I'll show you on one of the dormitory computers myself how to use it.' Ginny nodded in acknowlegement and turned to the boys 'are either of you going to the lessons?'

'I will if I'm awake' Ron said

'I probably wont' Harry added 'I know how to work computers, I helped no-name a bit on her drawing of how a computer works so-'

'you what?' Hermione and Ginny interrupted, Harry turned pale

'I KNEW she couldn't have done it on her own!' Hermione laughed a little, 'but I cant believe you helped her Harry! And Ronald you'll have to be awake, they may want to put the computer in your room by then. And it COULD be McGonagall putting them in, you wont want to get woken up by her.' Soon they reached the common room and were handed slips of parchment by Proffessor McGonagall with their log ins written on them.

'' Harry read out. 'That's original. Password is Pa-' he coughed, realising he shouldn't read it out loud and carried on with what it said after his password 'you will be asked to change this when you log in for the first time, and you may change it as often as you like afterward.'

'' Hermione read out too

' I think everyone's is pretty much the same'

'2Hogwarts why is mine different?' Ginny asked

'Because I also am ' a voice said behind them, they turned to see Fred and George standing there. 'hello 2 I am George' George continued 'and I have no silly number because I am the ORIGINAL !'

'oh it's only because your older!' Ginny protested 'get over yourself!'

'I wonder if Professor Dumbledore's log in is just "" or if it's "A.P.W."' Hermione laughed

'why would it be the second one?' Ron asked, Hermione rolled her eyes

'because they're his initials Ronald' she said 'Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore'

'well my initials are R. B. Weasley, yours are H. J. Granger, Ginny's are G. M. Weasley and Harry's are H. J. Potter. But they're not our log ins are they?' Ron challenged. Hermione looked annoyed and shrugged it off.

'forget it Ronald, I was only joking around. But for your information he LIKES using his full initials so he may have asked for it, AND he is the headmaster so he's more important than us, so he may have the full name to show it!' at this Hermione stormed upstairs to the girl's dormitories.

'she's a bit touchy today' Ginny explained to the twins. 'she doesn't like no-name much. I better check she's alright, I probably wont be back. Goodnight everyone' Then Ginny headed up to the girl's dorms too. It took a long time for everybody to go to bed that night however once they did the rest of the week passed in a blur of learning about computers and talk of the chat room. Every muggle studies book had been taken out from the library in hopes of there being a mention of a computer or chat room in it somewhere. Only one sat on the shelf having been read and checked twice with no mention of a computer. The muggle-borns around school were for once even talked to by several Slytherins (although many Slytherins still didn't want to be degraded to that level) and were being asked questions about computers and chat rooms. Harry even found out who Colin Creevey was, he was the most talked about Gryffindor of the week apart from Dean and no-name. This was because he was muggle-born AND he loved taking photos. The Weasley twins had started up a show from Colin without telling him, where they would say who was allowed to have their photos taken and who could talk to him, for certain prices. Eventually however Hermione found out and had Ginny tell Colin what was going on so that he could get some money from it too. He however was after Harry's picture more than anybody else's, and was offering to pay him money to have the picture taken. On Saturday morning at Breakfast, Colin caught Harry off guard by bounding over and asking for photographs. This time Harry allowed him to take some photos but asked for copies of them for the chat room which he was happily given. Ginny found this hilarious and wouldn't stop laughing until long after breakfast. At 11am Harry headed up to the boys dormitory to wake up Ron.

'Oi! Ron!' Harry yelled at him as he came in 'Wake up! The computer lesson is soon AND the people might come to put the computer in our room! It's a tip and we need to clear some space!' Harry ducked down next to his own bed and began pushing his things underneath, being particularly careful to put his invisibility cloak safely into his trunk hidden under his other clothes and to keep his wand with him at all times.


	30. The New Girl's Secret Chat Room 32

He checked around the room for more of his things and stuffed everything underneath or on the bed and in his trunk. Then he tried waking up Ron again, this time it was almost successful, but he was a little too late. By now it was 11:30 and there was a knock on the door. He went to open it and found McGonagall standing there with Mr Filch and a huge box of equipment each, which McGonagall clearly found difficult to hold.

'Right Potter, Mr Filch is going to install the computer now, is everybody out?' Proffessor McGonagall asked

'I'm just trying to wake up Ron' Harry said, he had suddenly realised just how happy he was to have hidden his robe and joke items which would usually be confiscated.

'well hurry up and wake him potter so we can get started.' Harry went back to Ron's bed and while pretending to shake him (which he knew wouldn't work) Harry pulled Ron's pillow roughly, sliding it slightly out from under his head. Ron woke with a start and sat up straight. Then he noticed everybody in the room and pulled his covers to cover his vest.

'It's time to get out of the room Mr Weasley, you should have been up earlier.' McGonagall said.

'Grab your stuff and just put a jumper or something on, you can change in the bathrooms' Harry hissed at him. Ron, who hadn't thought about how he would change clothes did as Harry suggested, putting on a jumper and shoes with his pajamas and heading for the showers. McGonagall stopped Harry before he could leave.

'tell your other room mates that we're working in here will you Potter?' she suggested 'you can come back in from 12:15. We'll be done by then' with that Harry nodded and left the room.

x.X.x A Little while later x.X.x

Hermione, Harry and Dean were talking in the common room, Ron had changed and left with Ginny for computer lessons. There were a surprising number of people still sitting in the common room. Although nobody was sure just how many people actually knew how to use computers and who were just waiting to SEE one.

'1o past!' Dean said '5 minutes and we can go see the new computer!' Suddenly the portrait hole opened and Ginny dashed back in.

'they couldn't fit us all in the computer room!' she complained 'I left Ron there, but I was wondering if you could teach me 'Mione? Instead of the teachers, I swear they probably don't know as much as you about it anyway!'

'yeah no problem but they haven't been up to start putting in the girl's computers yet as far as I know, unless they have while I've been talking to the guys.' Hermione said, Ginny nodded and sat down.

'But we're allowed up to see ours in 3 minutes now though I bet they're already done since ALL the guys in 3rd year have left their room now. You can teach Ginny on ours for a bit if you like. Though I want a go so you can teach her to use it using my name at first.' Dean laughed

'are you sure? Wont Seamus or Neville want to use it?' Hermione asked

'They're both at the lesson' Dean said simply 'and I'm sure Harry wont mind' Harry replied by shaking his head so Hermione and Ginny smiled in thanks. 'Do you think they'd care if we went to see if they're done?' Dean asked 'Or wait outside for the last 3 minutes? I miss seeing computers when we're at Hogwarts!'

'lets try' Ginny suggested 'please?' Hermione and Harry followed the two up the stairs towards the boys room. The door was slightly ajar and Dean peeked in.

'They're gone!' Dean said triumphantly pushing the door open properly. 'we're 2 minutes early but that doesn't matter now does it? AHH SWEET COMPUTER!' He went over to the computer and desk in the corner of the room and planted himself in the seat, spinning it as he sat. The computer was old, not very modern at all yet it was good enough and Ginny went mental on the sight of it.

'OMG! It's a box! Does that DO things? It's like magic itself! How did muggles get the magic to do it? Do they have house elves?'

'it's electricity, Ginny' Hermione said 'turn it on Dean, she'll love that' Hermione laughed a little and Dean pushed the power button and as the screen lit up Ginny squealed in Delight and went to touch the screen, cold glass. Surprisingly.

**-x.X.x-**

**Now to carry on reading you'll have to go to YouTube yourself. Sorry, but this is where it goes into a different format. Hope you'll watch. Feel free to comment on here if you don't have a YouTube account (or any account at all, as you don't need an account to leave a comment on here :) )**

**Here's the link (you need to take out the spaces, but if I put them in then they wouldn't keep the URL in the story at all.) :**

http:/ www. Youtube. Com/ watch? v=hrK9 EoHz wKE

**The fanfiction part of the video finishes at 5:57, so skip to there.**


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